Visible To You
by Ongaku Neko
Summary: Syaoran unwittingly insults a psychic, resulting in him being invisible to everyone besides the psychic and... one girl... AU S&S! COMPLETE! Kitty Neko
1. Default Chapter

**Kitty Neko: So, I decided that it was about time I revised this story. While the plot remains the same, a lot of jokes and little things have been changed or added. I even added a completely new scene to chapter three because it felt like it was missing something that could make the story flow a little nicer. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CardCaptor Sakura, nor am I making a profit off of this story.  
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**Chapter 1**

The bell rang, signaling freedom for all the students in the school. Almost all of them, that is. A few unlucky souls had to stay for detention. However, Syaoran Li was not one of those people. He was unlucky in his own special way.

As soon as the teacher dismissed his class he grabbed his things and fled the coup. He was in a particular hurry today for one horrifying reason.

"Syaoran!"

"Oh no," Syaoran muttered and walked faster, making sure to keep his eyes trained on the floor.

"Syaoran Li, don't you dare run away from me!"

By now Syaoran was practically sprinting to the door that was standing between him and his freedom. He had almost made it when a strong arm reached out and grabbed his shirt. The sudden change in direction caused him to stumble but he somehow managed to keep from falling. As soon as he was able to compose himself he turned to glare at his cousin. Meiling Li simply smirked and tossed a long glossy strand of black hair out of her face.

"You forget, dear cousin, that I'm just as fast a runner as you are when I want to be."

"I didn't forget." Syaoran turned away. "I just thought that the will to get away would somehow make my legs go faster."

As expected, Meiling punched him on the arm for his smartass remark. "You thought wrong." She brought her hand up to tap on her temple. "Or maybe my will to get to you was stronger than your will to get away. After all, you _promised_."

"I know." Syaoran raised his arms in the universal sign of surrender. "But it was worth a try, right?"

"You just wasted both of our time," Meiling said melodramatically, making him chuckle. "To think that I'm not going to get to see my favorite cousin for a whole week! Besides, a little trip to a psychic isn't going to kill you." She looked at him pointedly. "But I might."

That was his cue to give in. Meiling grabbed her backpack off the floor and together they began the short trek to the psychic shop that she had been dying to go to for some time now. Although she had been wheedling him for months, only recently had she been able to convince Syaoran to go with her.

The two of them had always been close. They were the youngest in the family so they naturally gravitated towards each other. Meiling was one of the few people that Syaoran even bothered to talk to and she was certainly the most… energetic.

Spring Break had finally arrived. Syaoran was looking forward to rest and relaxation while Meiling was going out of town with his mother and sisters. Syaoran was originally supposed to go with them since he would be left at home alone, but his mother relented. He was sixteen now, after all. It was a good thing too, in Syaoran's opinion. He wasn't sure if he could handle spending a week stuck in some hotel with his mother, four sisters, and Meiling. Perhaps his threat of jumping off the hotel roof had something to do with his mother's change of heart.

That was actually why he was in his current predicament. Meiling guilted him into it by talking about how much she would miss him. Even though Syaoran knew it was a trick to get him to do something, he fell for it. And now here he stood looking up at the lamely named Love's Future Psychic House. He groaned loudly.

Meiling on the other hand, beamed up at the neon sign before bounding inside, leaving him to follow. It smelled strangely musty and was dark inside, save for a few strategically placed lamps.

It was no doubt in need of a good scrub down, Syaoran thought disdainfully. He had never been very fond of messes. Maybe living with five women had something to do with that. Either way, he couldn't wait to get out of the place.

Wasting no time, Meiling walked up to the clerk and smiled. "Hi, I'm Meiling. I have an appointment for four o'clock."

The slightly older girl looked down at her schedule book before nodding and pointing at a door decorated with fabric and beads. "Madam Mirai will see you now."

Syaoran snorted and received withering glances from both Meiling and the clerk. He didn't care. Madam Mirai? That name was just screaming fraud in his humble opinion.

Not voicing his thoughts aloud, he pretended to cough and gestured for Meiling to go ahead. His cousin rolled her eyes before grabbing his wrist and dragging him with her.

The next room was even darker than the lobby and was only lit with a few candles. The scented candles almost covered it, but Syaoran was pretty sure that he could smell old smoke, probably from cigarettes. He cringed. In the center of the room was a small round table (thankfully with no crystal ball on it) and two chairs meant for the visitors. A third chair was occupied by a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She wasn't ugly but she was wearing too much eye makeup. She had her long curly brown hair pulled out of her face by a piece of cloth, exposing her large hoop earrings. When she lifted her arm to motion at the chairs Syaoran could see that she wore many rings and bracelets that clinked together when she moved.

Meiling plopped down on a chair and told Syaoran to do likewise.

"You're Meiling?" Madam Mirai asked, looking at Meiling. Syaoran was sorely tempted to say 'No. I am' but he restrained himself.

At his cousin's nod, Madam Mirai smiled slightly and asked, "What is it that you want to know about your future?"

"Well…" Meiling sat back in her chair, deep in thought. "I heard that you specialized in love fortunes. I guess that's as good as anything else."

Syaoran suppressed his amusement. _Sure_ that was a spur of the moment choice. He was willing to bet all of his saved allowance that a love fortune was the only thing she ever intended to get.

Madam Mirai nodded before taking Meiling's hands in her own and shutting her eyes. She murmured softly under her breath, occasionally squeezing Meiling's hands and running her fingers along the lines in her palm. She reopened her heavily painted lids at last and said, "You will meet someone very soon. You will develop very strong feelings for each other. In the end, it may work out or it may not. You must understand that that reading futures is a very uncertain thing. Still, I see great potential for you and this boy."

Syaoran looked out of the corner of his eye to see if his cousin was buying any of this bull.

"Really?" Meiling asked breathlessly. Apparently she was buying it. "What does he look like? How do I meet him?"

"He will have hair the color of cornflower and eyes the color of the ocean. When you meet him, you will not be at your best. You'll be drenched and unhappy."

Syaoran snorted loudly, wanting to be heard. He just couldn't stay quiet this time. Madam Mirai and Meiling both turned to look at him sharply.

"And just _what_ is so amusing?" Meiling demanded.

"Hair of cornflower? Eyes of the ocean? Please!" Not only was it corny, something struck him as odd about 'cornflower'. If only he could put his finger on it…

Meiling looked embarrassed at his outburst but Madam Mirai didn't even bat an eye. "And just who might you be?"

Syaoran jerked his thumb in Meiling's direction. "I'm her cousin."

"And do you not believe in fortune telling?"

"Not really. Especially for twenty bucks."

She looked at him coolly. "Let me ask you something, young man. Do you believe in true love?"

Syaoran crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "As a matter of fact, I don't."

Madam Mirai smiled softly, as if that was just the response she had been expecting. "That's a shame. Perhaps your cynicism stems from the fact that your parents got a divorce shortly after you were born? Leaving your mother to take care of five children by herself?"

Syaoran was torn between shock and anger that she knew those things. Still, there had to be a reasonable explanation, he was sure.

"I don't have to take this," he said, rising to his feet. Meiling winced at the angry scraping of chair against tile. "Especially not from a crackpot psychic."

That comment finally seemed to penetrate Madam Mirai's placid surface and her eyes narrowed. "That's a hasty assumption," she said dangerously.

"Uh huh. Sure. I'm going now, Meiling. And by the way _Madam_ Mirai," Syaoran said her name mockingly, "you might want to go easier on the eye makeup. You might accidentally paint your eyes shut."

Syaoran turned to exit but in a flash Madam Mirai was in his path, blocking the door. "You need a wake up call," she said icily.

"You're right. This little escapade has bored me to tears." Syaoran tried to brush past her, but to no avail.

He watched, annoyed, as she shut her eyes and mumbled under her breath in hurried tones. She finished quickly and grinned at him like a shark. "The next time you wake up your life is going to be turned upside down. I would give you a bit of advice but I think you can have fun trying to figure it our on your own, smartass."

"Okay," Syaoran mocked. "Now would you move?"

When she finally got out of his way Syaoran grabbed his stuff and walked out the door, Meiling at his heels.

Before Meiling left the room she turned around to face Madam Mirai. "I'm so sorry about this. I hope you can forgive us."

"Don't worry about it, dear. You're welcome back any time. And good luck with your future encounter!"

Meiling nodded and left before any more could be said. Alone in the room, a smirk slowly slid across Madam Mirai's face. Despite the fact that he had never told her his name she murmured, "Good luck, Syaoran."

* * *

Later that night, Syaoran sat in his living room reading and munching on a bag of chips. The house was the quietest it had ever been. Shortly after he and Meiling left the psychic house, his family had to rush to catch their plane. Now he had the whole week to do blissfully nothing.

He was technically supposed to go to school the next day but his mother had called the main office and lied that he was going on vacation. It was pointless to go to school on the Friday before Spring Break anyways. They were just going to be watching movies in all of his classes.

He scowled when he remembered the encounter with the psychic. "What a crock of shit," he mumbled, setting his snacks aside. It really had been a long day. He knew he should get undressed and go to his bed, but the task just seemed too daunting. The events of the day took their toll on him and he fell into a restless sleep on the sofa.

Unknown to him, that little bout of laziness was going to be the only bit of luck he would have in the next few days.

* * *

It was unusually bright when Syaoran woke up, even for the living room. He groggily cracked one eye open to look at his surroundings. Startled out of his wits, the other eye flew open.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" he cursed, jumping to his feet. This was definitely not his living room.

The familiar public park surrounded him on all sides and Syaoran thought he was going to have a heart attack. How did he get there? Had he developed a sleepwalking disorder? He gave himself a once over to make sure everything was intact. After a quick inspection, he came to the conclusion that he was okay physically.

It was lucky that he fell asleep fully clothed that night. That thought was quickly dismissed when he noticed that he was wearing his oldest sister's fuzzy pink house slippers. He had put them on the night before to spite her, since she reminded him numerous times not to touch her stuff while she was gone. He sighed. They were a little too small but at least he wasn't barefoot.

Oh well, he had bigger problems than fashion at the moment. Even in his confusion as to how he got to the park in the first place, he knew he needed to get home. He rose to his feet and started the walk back to his house.

Being in a hurry, he dodged around all the people in his way until he came upon a group taking up the whole sidewalk. Bushes were lining the walkway so there was no way to go around them.

"Excuse me," Syaoran said patiently. When no one answered him he tried again. No answer. Figuring they just hadn't heard him, he tapped one guy on the back. The guy whipped around and looked right past Syaoran.

"Is somebody there?"

Annoyance about to burst through the dam he had constructed, Syaoran waved his hand in front of the guy's face. "Me. You're in the way. Move."

The guy just raised his eyebrows and turned around to join his friends. Through with being polite (or as close to being polite as he got) Syaoran just shoved a couple of the boys in the group out of his way. All of them looked thoroughly confused, but he didn't have any time to hang around.

Turning his walk into a jog and then into a sprint, Syaoran was exhausted by the time he got to his house. He tried the front door but no luck. Of course the one time he actually remembered to lock the door had to be yesterday. He tried the back door but came up with the same results. Too bad his family didn't leave a hidden key outside. By the time he checked all the windows he was extremely annoyed.

He realized in the back of his mind that if there was no way to get into the house, that meant there was no way to get out. That brought up the question – then how did he manage to get outside? But he ignored it. There were some things he really didn't want to think about just yet.

His whole family was out of town so there was no one he could call to help him out. He was stuck. There was no other way in. Unless…

Deciding that there was really no other choice, Syaoran grabbed a rock and hurled it at the nearest window. It didn't even make a noise when the stone connected to the glass. Confused, Syaoran tried again and again. The window didn't even crack. Out of growing frustration, he banged his fists against the window. Nothing happened. No matter what he did, he couldn't break the window. A string of obscenities left his mouth that would have made a sailor gasp in outrage.

Feeling drained of energy he sank down to his knees in the grass. What was going on? It was at that moment that another disturbing thought occurred to him. Had those boys in the park… not been able to _see_ him?!

He knew it was a ridiculous thought, but still… realization dawned on him. The psychic! He didn't know how, but he knew that she had something to do with this. In a flash he was on his feet and running as fast as he could in the direction of Love's Future Psychic House.

* * *

Syaoran entered the all too familiar lobby and glared at the clerk. She was the same girl from the day before. "I was here yesterday. Can I talk to Madam Mirai?" The girl didn't say anything and continued to smack her gum and file her nails. A cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach. She couldn't see him either. "Damn it, listen to me!" Dread boiling over, he slammed his fists down right in front of her.

The girl looked up, wide-eyed, and whipped her head in every direction, trying to see the culprit. Syaoran groaned and stomped over to the room where he knew Madam Mirai was hiding. When he tried the doorknob it was locked so he just pounded on the door. The clerk let out a shriek and ducked for cover.

Syaoran was just preparing to kick the door down when it swung open. At the sight of Madam Mirai's over painted face, he wanted to pound her into the ground. "You!" he sputtered, not caring if she could see him or not. "I don't know how you did this, but I know it was you! I can't get into my house and no one can see me! What the hell did you do to me?!"

Instead of looking around in confusion, her gaze went directly to Syaoran. "Please Syaoran, settle down and come inside." Startled into silence, Syaoran obeyed. "Have a seat." He eyed her wearily. Madam Mirai just smiled. "We have all the time in the world. Be difficult if you want, but you're the one with the problem."

Realizing that she was right, Syaoran sat down and glared at her.

"Now let's get down to business, shall we?" Madam Mirai pulled out a deck of tarot cards and shuffling them like she was about to play poker. Syaoran eyed them nervously.

"What are those for?"

"Nothing. I just like having my hands occupied while I talk."

Syaoran rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

They sat in silence for a long time until Syaoran just couldn't take it anymore. "Well, aren't you going to fix it?"

"Fix it?" Madam Mirai asked blandly.

"Yes!"

She gave him a look that clearly meant he needed to calm down. "There's nothing _I_ can do." She paused thoughtfully. "Well, there is, but I'm not going to do it." She laughed at Syaoran's incredulous expression. "Tell me, Syaoran, what makes you think I can do anything anyways? What was it you called me yesterday? A crack pot psychic?"

"I'm sorry," Syaoran mumbled, losing the last shred of dignity that he had been able to hold onto.

"Yes, I would be too."

Syaoran bit his tongue to keep from saying the things he knew would just make the whole situation worse. Madam Mirai gave him a knowing look, as if she could hear what he was thinking. Maybe she really could do things like read minds? He still doubted it. His facial expression was probably just a dead give away. The way his lips were pinched together, he was sure he looked like he had just eaten a lemon.

Madam Mirai's smile widened. "Sorry kid, but you need to figure out how to fix this on your own. It's not my problem anymore." She swiftly stood and pulled him to his feet. She was a lot stronger than she looked, Syaoran discovered. She managed to drag him out of her room, through the lobby, past the confused clerk, and out the front door.

"Nice slippers, by the way. You have fun now!" And with that, the door slammed shut and Syaoran's hope evaporated.

* * *

It couldn't have been too long after seven in the morning, but Syaoran was drained. After the event at Madam Mirai's place he decided to return to where he woke up that morning, hoping against hope that there might be some clue as to how to get back to normal. But as luck would have it, there was nothing. Nada. Zilch.

He was annoyed, angry, frustrated, and tired. Not a good combination for the next person who happened to cross his path.

Syaoran was resting on a park bench when it happened. Some guy was walking with his face in a book and was about to sit on him. Quickly losing his temper, Syaoran kicked the back of the guy's knees, causing him to fall to the ground. Once he was down, Syaoran grabbed his book and hurtled it as far away was possible. The guy scrambled to his feet and chased after the book, looking over his shoulder in fear. Seeing nothing was there frightened him even more and he hightailed it out of there.

Syaoran chuckled a little. At least this invisible thing had a few perks. He was about to lie back down but something caught his eye. A girl stood not too far away and was looking at the guy who was running away. She had short brown hair cut into an interesting style and was wearing a backpack and a uniform. She didn't go to the same school as Syaoran, but he recognized her uniform. It was from Tomoeda High or something like that. When she turned to look in his direction he noticed she had bright eyes.

Hmm… pretty. He would have stared at her a bit longer but he had heavier things weighing on his mind at the moment.

Sighing, Syaoran lay down and shut his eyes. Maybe a quick nap would do the trick. Who knew? He could wake up and be back in his house. For all he knew, the whole morning could be a horrible nightmare. Just as he got comfortable, a shadow fell across his face. Great. Not another person trying to sit on him, he thought grouchily.

He cracked one eye open and saw the girl with brown hair. Now that she was so close, he could see that her eyes were a startling green. She was standing over him with her arms akimbo and an angry expression on her face. He sat up slowly and her gaze followed him.

"That was mean," she said. "What did he do to you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"A-are you talking to _me_?" Syaoran stuttered. He was hardly ever reduced to stuttering, but surprise had gotten the better of him.

The girl rolled her eyes before answering. "Who else would I be talking to? You're the only one here." She then mumbled something under her breath that he didn't quite catch but was sure he wouldn't like. Under normal circumstances he would have had a rude reply but this day certainly didn't qualify as normal. He had more urgent matters at hand.

"So…" Syaoran said slowly, pointing to his face. "You can see me?"

"Yes." The way she said it implied that she thought he was slow. Making a not-so-nice gesture with her middle finger she asked, "Can you see this?"

Syaoran mentally sighed. It was a shame that her personality didn't match her face. He just couldn't help himself. There was a limit to his self restraint after all. "Yes, but I'm not really in the mood for that right now."

"Oh?" The girl said, not missing a beat. "Judging by your choice in footwear, I would have to guess that I'm not your type."

While Syaoran was recovering from the shock that she had managed to one up him, the girl spun on her heel and walked away. Realizing that his only hope was leaving in a huff, Syaoran raced after her.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

She glanced over her shoulder to see that he had already caught up with her. "To school. Nar. You don't look any older than me; shouldn't you do the same?"

"I can't. I'm invisible." Never mind that he wouldn't have gone anyways…

That caught her attention. She stopped so abruptly that Syaoran had to backtrack a couple of steps.

"I'm guessing that you're either a psycho or a pathological liar. Which is it?" She asked, unflinchingly staring him in the eyes. He wasn't sure why but it was a bit unnerving; like she wasn't afraid of anything.

"I'm serious," Syaoran insisted.

"Uh huh. And I have psychic powers." Her voice was positively dripping with sarcasm.

Syaoran cringed at the ironic choice of words but he sensed an opening. "It's funny you should bring that up. That's actually how I got in this whole mess. You see-"

"I don't have time for this crap," she cut him off mid-sentence. Clearly finished with the conversation, she sped off into the direction of her school. If she thought running would deter him, she was dead wrong. Syaoran stayed on her heels the entire way.

"Go away!" She barked at him upon arriving at her school. She was breathing hard from her exertion and glaring at him fiercely. Syaoran simply scoffed at her. Her lips pursed together tightly and she swung open the entrance door to the school, trying to hit him in the process.

"Watch it!" Syaoran yelped when the door barely missed his toe. The pink slippers wouldn't have protected him in the slightest. She didn't say anything. He also noticed that she was no longer running away from him. "Give up so soon?"

There was no reply.

She was ignoring him, Syaoran realized with horror. He had never been ignored before in his life and there was no way he was going to take it lying down. He was getting ready to give her a good smack upside the head when the bell rang.

A sea of students appeared from all sides, everyone not paying attention to who they were walking all over. It was way worse than the halls at his school, and that was really saying something. Maybe it was his eyes deceiving him, but he was pretty sure he saw someone sitting in a corner and covering his head with his hands for protection. He was sorely tempted to join him.

The halls were so crammed with students that Syaoran had a hard time keeping sight of the girl. To keep up with her he had to push a lot of people out of his way. Luckily for him, everyone was used to being manhandled and they barely noticed.

A foot appeared from out of nowhere and Syaoran stumbled over it. He somehow managed to keep from falling (a good thing too since he doubted he would ever be able to get back up) but had to take his eyes off the girl. His eyes darted around and he was just in time to see her duck into a nearby classroom.

By the time he fought his way over to her classroom, she was unpacking and he cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked up at him with a pleasant expression, but it immediately turned sour at the sight of his face. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your best friend, Sakura."

Syaoran turned around at the unfamiliar voice to see a girl with pale skin and black hair standing behind him. She was smiling sweetly at the girl with brown hair – who was obviously named Sakura.

"I wasn't talking like that to _you_, Tomoyo."

Syaoran jumped out of the way just in time. A second later and Tomoyo would have walked right into an invisible wall. Sakura shot him a confused look but didn't comment. She had obviously decided to go back to her ignoring tactic.

Tomoyo took her seat next to Sakura and set her bag down. "So, what's going on?"

"I met an idiot guy in the park," Sakura started to say but had to pause for the tardy bell. There was no teacher in the classroom yet so she continued. "He's been following me."

"Really?" Tomoyo arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her friend. "What did he look like?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"No."

Sakura lifted her hand and pointed in Syaoran's direction. "He's right there!"

Tomoyo turned her head and arched her eyebrow again. "Takashi's been following you?"

Syaoran looked over his shoulder to see a boy with black hair behind him. He assumed that boy was probably Takashi.

"No, I-" Sakura blanched. Syaoran enjoyed watching as the color drained from her face. "You don't see him?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"Um… no?"

"You don't see the guy standing in front of Takashi with brown hair who isn't wearing a school uniform?" Sakura sounded a little desperate and Syaoran chuckled.

"Sakura, are you feeling okay?" Tomoyo reached across their desks and put her hand on Sakura's forehead. She looked concerned for her friend.

"I'm fine. Are you sure you don't see him?" Sakura asked one more time, gently brushing her friend's hand away.

"I'm sure."

"Good," Sakura said, her tone and posture changing completely. She didn't want her friend to worry about her so she would pretend. "It was just a joke. You know, one last prank before Spring Break. The old 'Sakura has gone bonkers' never fails!" Syaoran was a bit taken aback at how quickly she was able to change gears and come up with a cover story.

Tomoyo rolled her eyes and smacked Sakura on the arm. She was about to say something but the teacher chose that moment to burst through the door, looking harried in only the way a high school teacher can. "Get out something to do," she snapped. "I don't care what, just don't talk."

Tomoyo got out a book but Sakura rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a pen and some paper. Syaoran moved so that he was standing right next to her and she eyed him wearily. He had to admit that it was a bit of a power trip that he was able to make a girl like her look unsure about something.

Shaking slightly, she wrote _'Are you a ghost?'_ on the paper.

Syaoran leaned forward so that he was right next to her before whispering. "No." It was unnecessary for him to whisper since she was the only one who could hear him, but he wasn't quite ready to relinquish his newfound power over her. It was with no small amount of satisfaction that he noted the shiver that shot down her spine caused by his hot breath on her ear.

Reaching over to Tomoyo's desk, Syaoran selected a single hair from her head and yanked hard and quick. Tomoyo jumped, and glared at the boy sitting behind her.

"I wouldn't have been able to do that if I were a ghost."

Seeming satisfied with that answer, Sakura scribbled down another message: _'Don't do that again. Tomoyo might kill the poor guy behind her.' _Syaoran chuckled and watched as she wrote more. _'If you're not a ghost, what are you?'_

"That's a long story. You see…" Syaoran launched into his story while Sakura pretended to be working. Not that it really mattered – her teacher wasn't paying attention anyways. "And since you're the only person who can see me, there's no one else I can go to. Will you help me?"

Sakura scowled.

Uh oh.

That definitely was not the reaction he was hoping for. Angrily, she scribbled down another sentence: _'It sounds like you got exactly what you deserve.'_

"You're not going to help me?" Syaoran shrieked. It wasn't very manly but there was no time to worry about that. Sakura winced at the sound but wrote three more words.

'_No. Go away.'_

After reading her message, Syaoran let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! Yea, right! There's no one else who can help me. There's no way I'm giving up!"

More writing: _'Try all you want. I don't care. You won't change my mind. Don't think that I forgot what you did to that poor guy in the park.'_

Can't change her mind, huh? Syaoran thought evilly. We'll see about that.

* * *

It was after lunch and Sakura's class as watching a movie while Sakura attempted to ignore Syaoran once again. She still refused to help him, but Syaoran hadn't given up. He had bothered her all throughout the day and wasn't about to quit.

"I have all the time in the world," he said out loud. "You're the only one who can see me. I'm not giving up." He poked her in the side for emphasis. No response. He mentally sighed.

Frustration was beginning to settle in. He may have been notorious for being stubborn, but he might have finally met his match in Sakura. She had gotten so used to his constant pokes and prods that she had stopped reacting to them completely. It was a good thing too. She was tired of people thinking she was having a seizure.

An idea crept into Syaoran's mind but he wasn't too sure he was willing to go that far. He watched Sakura's side profile. She was still diligently pretending like he was a figment of her imagination. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Syaoran crouched down low and moved so that he was under Sakura.

"What are you doing?" Sakura hissed out of the corner of her mouth, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Trying to see your panties," he answered simply. That was always a sure way to get a girl's attention, even if it was negative.

Sakura's eyes widened and she kicked him in the head. A few people turned around in their seats to see what she was doing.

"There was a bug on my leg," Sakura said lamely. They looked at her like she was crazy and then turned back to the movie. Sakura shot a death glare at Syaoran who was sitting on the floor and rubbing his head.

Sakura got up and went to her teacher. "May I go to the restroom?"

The teacher nodded. She was probably very glad to be rid of Sakura, even if it was only for a couple of minutes. Sakura's constant fidgeting was getting on everyone's nerves.

Sakura left the room and Syaoran followed. The walk to the bathroom seemed longer than it ever had before, but that probably had something to do with the invisible guy singing 'I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves' at the top of his lungs. Her left eye managed to develop a twitch by the time they reached the restroom.

She was unsurprised that Syaoran followed her into the girls' bathroom but she drew the line when she realized that he was in the stall with her.

"What are you doing?"

"I've always been curious about the anatomy of a girl." He grinned widely at her, waggling his eyebrows.

Sakura pushed him out, slammed the door and locked it. "Yea, well, I'm willing to bet money that you're going to remain curious about that until the day you die."

"Ouch. That one struck a nerve." Syaoran paused, examining his fingernails. "No, really it did." His insistence was obviously not sincere. Her lack of a response was grating on his nerves. Bending over, he peeked under the stall door. Luckily for Sakura, she was only unzipping her pants. When she lifted her leg in warning of another kick to the head, he withdrew.

Syaoran leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. Sakura took care of business and reemerged. Turning on a faucet, she began to wash her hands.

"You win," she muttered under her breath so softly that he wasn't sure he heard her correctly.

Syaoran uncrossed his arms and leaned closer to her. "What was that?"

"I said you win! I'll help you." Sakura let out an exasperated sigh. "You're driving me crazy and I can tell you're not going to give up any time soon. The sooner I help you, the sooner you go away."

"Glad to see you finally realized the smart thing to do."

Sakura gave him a withering glare. "Don't push it. I can still change my mind." Syaoran raised his hands in surrender, unwilling to start another battle so soon.

They fell into silence while Sakura was drying her hands on a coarse paper towel. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

"Syaoran Li."

"So tell me, Syaoran, do you make it a habit of following girls into the bathroom and listening while they pee? Does that kind of thing get you off?" she asked, apparently raring to go for another battle. It only made sense, since she had lost the first one.

"Don't kid yourself," Syaoran quipped. "I don't see you that way. I only like attractive girls."

Sakura frowned. "You certainly are a mouthy little bastard."

"You're one to talk."

Sakura groaned, tossing the paper towel in the trash bin. "I can see this is going to be a long day." Realization dawned on her. "You said that you wanted me to help you, but what exactly do you want me to do? And how come I'm the only one who can see you? Why me?"

Syaoran looked uncomfortable at the third degree. "I'm… not really sure. The psychic said that I'm going to have to figure it out on my own."

"Is that your answer to all three of my questions?"

"Yes."

"So what you're telling me is that you have no idea what we're supposed to do." Sakura looked suspiciously close to strangling him. "This is going to take more than one day, isn't it?"

"Probably."

Sakura groaned loudly at the ceiling.

"So..." Syaoran poked her in the side. "What class do we have next?"

* * *

"Keep your eyes shut," Sakura hissed at Syaoran, turning the last number to the combination of her locker and opening it with a click.

"Did you say something?" Tomoyo asked, tugging her shirt over her head.

"Nothing," the brunette grumbled, wishing that she didn't have tennis that day. It figured that she would have to go into a changing room full of half-naked girls the day that an invisible boy was following her everywhere. The irony.

"Hey!" Syaoran snapped Sakura out of her thoughts. "Your friend has a nice rack. Oooo, and that girl over there…"

He was only saying those things to annoy her. Of course, he was a red-blooded heterosexual male so there was some truth in his words, but he would never normally say it so bluntly. It was fun to watch her get mad.

Sakura ignored him and stuck her nose in the air, tugging her shirt off and exposing herself. She kept repeating to herself that she changed clothes in front of girls all the time and this was no different. Unfortunately, her mantra couldn't block out Syaoran's voice.

"Hey, you're not too bad yourself," Syaoran commented offhand.

Sakura could feel her face heat up against her will. Damn right! She silently agreed, but continued getting dressed as if he had never said anything. She was lucky enough to have put on her nicest bra that morning, so she was at least spared that embarrassment. On the other hand, her panties were a completely different story.

Sakura quickly pulled on a large shirt before changing into her shorts. That way, no one would have to know that she was wearing her teddy bear print underwear with the worn elastic and the hole.

After attempting to pull her short hair up and tying her shoes she grabbed her racket, slammed her locker shut, and scurried out of the locker room. Tomoyo was still pulling her hair up so she stayed behind.

Once they were alone outside, Sakura turned to look at her shadow companion, intending to chew his ass off. The words died in her throat when she got a good look at his face. He seemed shocked into silence and – even though she would never dream of asking why – she was curious. Fortunately he supplied an answer without her having to say a word.

"Some girls have absolutely NO business wearing thongs."

Sakura laughed in both amusement and triumph. "I _told_ you to stay outside and wait for me while I changed."

"But you might have tried to ditch me," Syaoran said. "And I can't have that."

"The thought never crossed my mind."

It actually would have been impossible to lose him at this point, but she would have been willing to try if he had given her the opportunity. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

"Let's get something straight," Sakura began, laying down the ground rules. "You sit around during my practice and I'll help you out afterwards. You are to do _nothing_, hear me? _Nothing_ for the next couple of hours."

The threat might as well have fallen on deaf ears but Syaoran pretended to agree anyway. Together they made their way to the tennis courts, not talking because other people were around.

Syaoran basically tuned out the coach's long and boring speech until it seemed like she was winding down. "…and Tomoyo Daidouji on court two. Sakura Kinomoto and Eriol Hiiragizawa on court one."

Sakura grabbed a couple balls from the basket and walked over to court one with Syaoran following. Another boy joined them. He was about Syaoran's height but had darker hair and wore glasses.

Syaoran took note of this new boy, but what really caught his attention was Sakura. When Eriol was talking to her she seemed very hesitant to meet his eyes. In fact, her whole demeanor changed from how she was around everyone else. Very interesting.

It didn't take long for Syaoran to get tremendously bored while watching them play. There was only so long watching a ball go back and forth could hold his attention, and Sakura sensed it. Perhaps his enormous and loud yawning tipped her off.

They finally finished a set and while Eriol was off to get a drink of water, Syaoran sauntered up to Sakura.

"Do you know how boring tennis is to watch?"

"Yes." Sakura scowled. "That's why I play it and don't watch it. I thought I told you to _sit_ around while I have tennis practice. You're _standing_."

"I just thought I would say hi while you're all by your lonesome," Syaoran replied. The mischief in him couldn't resist saying, "You like that Eriol boy, don't you?"

"No." Sakura answered a little too quickly to be convincing. She wanted to smack herself when she realized her mistake. It was too late now anyways. "Maybe. How did you know that? No one else has noticed."

"Seriously?" he asked incredulously. "People are even dumber than I thought. You act different around him. Let me guess – love at first sight?" Syaoran rolled his eyes at the thought. She had probably liked that Eriol guy since the moment she laid eyes on him. The idea made him want to hurl.

Sakura snapped her narrowed eyes on him. "You're awful quick to jump to conclusions. As a matter of fact, I don't believe in love at first sight. Infatuation maybe, but not love." He must have been looking at her strangely because she backtracked. "That's not to say that it couldn't turn into love. There are a lot of relationships that…" She stopped herself from babbling. "But my point is that I knew Eriol for over a year before I started liking him like that."

Syaoran was actually stunned. Until that moment he had never heard a girl say that she didn't believe in love at first sight. This Sakura girl was a strange one.

"So what do you like about that guy?" Syaoran's curiosity got the best of him. He had to ask.

"Well, actually-"

"You know Sakura, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity."

Sakura froze and turned slowly. Eriol smiled at her jovially.

"I-I wasn't talking to myself!" Sakura sputtered. Syaoran laughed the entire way through her lame explanation, but she still somehow managed to wiggle herself out of the embarrassing situation and went back to playing tennis.

Syaoran sat down on his appointed spot and was getting extremely bored when an idea popped into his head. He knew a way to make tennis practice more fun.

When he stood up, Sakura glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. If Eriol weren't there she would have asked him what he thought he was doing.

Slowly, Syaoran moseyed to the center of the court. Eriol hit the ball, and as it was going by Syaoran stuck his hand out and… grabbed it.

Time seemed to stand still. Deciding that he had held it long enough, Syaoran dropped the ball back on Eriol's side of the net.

"What just happened?!" Eriol asked, utterly bewildered.

"I have no idea," Sakura said, feigning ignorance. When tennis practice was over she was going to have a word or two with that invisible pain in the ass.

And that was the way the rest of practice went. Syaoran continued to mess up both Eriol and Sakura's shots ("The wind is being strange today!") and also began to pirouette around the court. It got to the point that Sakura wasn't even trying to get the ball over the net anymore. She had a new target. Syaoran dodged most of the time, but she did get a couple of good shots.

It was at 4:45 that a thoroughly pissed Sakura went back to the locker room with the rest of the team.

"I hate my partner!" Tomoyo cried, slamming her locker shut with a bang. The partner under discussion was already gone. "One of my biggest pet peeves is having a ball hog for a partner and just who do I have as my partner? The biggest ball hog on the team! It wouldn't even be that bad if she could get her shots _in!_"

Sakura nodded along, shutting her locker door and retying her shoes. "You know what my biggest pet peeve is?"

Tomoyo stopped her ranting for a second to look at her best friend. "What?"

"Things that are invisible."

"Invisible?"

Sakura nodded. Syaoran got what she was implying but it didn't faze him in the least. At least he had enjoyed himself a little that day.

"Care to elaborate?" Tomoyo asked, obviously confused.

"Like the wind (among other things). It's harder to play tennis with the wind around. It just makes life more difficult."

"Uh huh." Tomoyo accepted that as an answer but shook her head in mock sadness. "I swear you get stranger every day. I've got to go now. I'll call you. Bye!"

"Bye!" Sakura waved and as soon as Tomoyo was out of sight she turned to her invisible companion.

"Alright you stupid," insert several unprintable words right here. "What do you want me to do?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"What?!"

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks so she could devote her undivided attention to glaring at Syaoran. "You didn't tell me your family is out of town and you can't get into your house. Where are you planning on sleeping?" She had just been clued in on that one important fact after Syaoran also informed her that Love's Future Psychic House was closed by that hour.

Syaoran didn't know why, but this girl Sakura made him feel nervous. He was almost afraid to say his next sentence but it had to be said and he was no coward. In theory anyways. "At your house, of course."

"Of course NOT!" Sakura shrieked, walking again.

"Do you have a better idea?" Syaoran asked, his exasperation mounting.

"Yes. I think I still have a dog house in the yard."

"There's no way I'm sleeping outside," Syaoran said firmly.

"Then you better try your house again." Sakura picked up the pace, glancing at Syaoran with an evil scowl on her face.

"There's no way in. Believe me, I tried everything." Syaoran repeated.

"Fine."

Syaoran wasn't exactly sure what she meant. _Fine_, he can sleep in her house? Or _fine_, he's going to be stuck outside with the mosquitoes and ants? It probably wouldn't have done him any good to ask her, so he didn't bother.

The rest of the walk to her house was in silence. This seemed to please Sakura and she didn't break the silence until they were standing outside of her front door.

"Listen," she said sharply, "My dad and brother are home so you need to be absolutely silent. When we get inside, be quiet and follow me." And with that she swung open the door and walked in. Syaoran was a couple of steps behind her so she had to hold the door open for a second.

"What are you doing?" A masculine voice asked from the sofa in the living room. The owner of the voice had dark hair and looked too young to be Sakura's father, so Syaoran just assumed he was her brother. "Trying to let all the bugs and pests in?"

"Yes," Sakura answered bluntly. Her double meaning may have been lost on her brother but it wasn't lost on Syaoran. Too bad he didn't really care what she thought. "Where's dad?"

"In his room."

Sakura sighed inwardly in relief, glad that she didn't have to sneak Syaoran past her father at the moment. Her gaze flickered backwards and clashed with Syaoran's. Quickly, she turned away and started walking down the hall.

Syaoran watched where they were going so that later he would know his way around the house. The walls in the hallway were white and the carpet felt nice and spongy through his pretty pink slippers. All in all, not a bad place to live.

The hostile girl disappeared into one of the rooms and Syaoran was about to follow her, but something caught his eye.

On the door there was a sign that said 'WARNING' and then a long description of what it was warning about. Basically, it was saying what a mess the room was going to be. It kept going on and on about safety procedures and why he shouldn't go in. Syaoran rolled his eyes at the over exaggeration of it all and entered the room.

Syaoran visibly flinched when he saw the disaster zone. Clothes (including bras and underwear) were strewn around the room as well as blankets, backpacks, and anything else imaginable to man. "I guess the sign on your door wasn't an exaggeration."

"Nope," Sakura said and almost sounded proud.

Syaoran didn't know how long he would be able to stay in that room. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to get out of there and never return. He really hated messy rooms.

"Is there a problem?" Sakura asked evilly while she removed her shoes and threw them into the closet. "If there is, the doghouse is still available."

"No," Syaoran said quickly. "There's no problem."

"Good." She waded her way through the mess over to her dresser and dug around for some pajamas. That accomplished, she expertly skipped around the junk on the floor to get to the door.

"Where are you going?" Syaoran demanded, not wanting to be left in that room if it were at all possible.

"To take a bath. Don't follow me." She said it firmly enough so there was no room for argument.

"Why would I want to?" Syaoran muttered under his breath after she shut the door. She hadn't given him enough time to say it to her face.

* * *

Sakura almost moaned aloud when she sank into the steaming bathwater. As soon as she was surrounded by heat she could feel her muscles relax and some of the day's stress seemed to melt away.

It had definitely been a long day - between tennis practice and finding out that she had an invisible STALKER. Okay, so maybe he wasn't exactly a stalker but he certainly seemed as bad. In fact, she was wondering if she would prefer a stalker at this point. At least then she would be able to call the police.

Her mouth was underwater and, when she thought about calling the police to report an invisible stalker, she snorted and made bubbles.

It was only later when she was drying off and happened to glance at the clock, that she noticed she had been in the bathtub a lot longer than she'd intended.

Hurriedly, she put on her pajamas and went back to her room. The sight that greeted her made her gasp in shock.

"What did you do to my room?!"

"Cleaned it," Syaoran answered simply. Sakura's jaw dropped but he just pointed to a large pile of clothes. "I just put all of the clothes on the floor in that pile, regardless of whether they were really dirty or not. However, I didn't think it would be good if your dad or brother saw a floating pile of laundry, so I left that for you to take care of."

"W-why…" Sakura stuttered; it had been a long time since she'd seen the carpet. Had it always been that color?

"I have to have a place to sleep." Syaoran glanced at her with a mischievous expression. "Unless you want me to sleep on the bed with you?"

Sakura's face turned a nice rosy shade of pink in outrage. "Of course not!"

"That's what I thought."

* * *

"I've been looking for these!" Sakura said happily, flipping through the pictures in a shoebox that Syaoran had unearthed from the wreckage of her room. From what Syaoran could tell from the few glimpses he got over her shoulder, it was mainly a bunch of pictures of Sakura and Tomoyo. The two girls were of varied ages in the photos.

Sakura stopped and laughed at one particular photo where she and Tomoyo were about six years old and perched on top of an extremely hassled looking Touya. He was on his stomach on the floor and looked roughed up, as if it had taken a lot of effort on the girls' part to get him that way.

"Ah, this brings back memories," Sakura said, running her finger along the edges of the photo.

Syaoran was almost afraid to ask. "What kind of memories?"

Sakura smirked slyly. "We wrestled Touya to the ground because he was teasing us and then Tomoyo held him down and I farted in his face. My dad thought he would get a commemorative photo."

The edges of Syaoran's mouth turned down. "Lovely."

"Isn't it, though?" Sakura giggled and moved on to the next picture.

Syaoran sat back and leaned against the side of her bed. "So, I guess you've known Tomoyo for a long time?"

"Yea," Sakura said fondly. Syaoran was surprised by how normal and sweet she seemed in that moment. "We've been best friends since kindergarten, the kind that tells each other just about everything. My dad, Touya, and Tomoyo are the most important people in my life. She's like family to me."

"What about your mother?" Syaoran asked, not really thinking.

Sakura set the box down and looked at him. "She died in child birth." Horrified that he had asked such a personal question so lightly, Syaoran opened his mouth to apologize but Sakura interrupted him. "Don't worry about it. You didn't know. And it's not like I know what I'm missing. I feel worse for Touya because he actually has memories of her."

"Still," Syaoran said, trying to imagine what his life would have been like without his mother. "I'm sure it was hard to grow up without a mother, especially since you're a girl."

"Yea. Sometimes," Sakura admitted and shrugged. "But it could have been a lot worse. At least I have my dad and brother."

Syaoran nodded and leaned his head back against the bed. Sakura titled her head to the side and studied his profile. "What about you, butt sniffer?"

"Come again?" Syaoran asked, sitting up. He decided to let that 'butt sniffer' comment slide.

"What's your family like?" Sakura clarified.

"Oh." Syaoran laughed and then considered it for a moment. "I live with my mother and four sisters. I'm also pretty close to my cousin, Meiling."

"Wow," Sakura said, her green eyes wide. "That's a lot of estrogen."

"You're telling me," Syaoran muttered darkly. "I can't even count the number of times they held me down, painted my nails, and dressed me like a girl. My mom never stopped them either because she said I made such a pretty girl."

Sakura snickered at that particular image. "Six against one. Those aren't very good odds."

"No," Syaoran agreed. "They're not."

"And your father?" Sakura asked, uncharacteristically timid. Syaoran had to appreciate her tact.

"He's alive, but otherwise pretty much out of the picture," Syaoran answered, figuring that she had answered his questions so it was only fair. "He knocked my mother up for the fifth time and then left her when she was pregnant with me. The judge wouldn't let them divorce until after I was born so it would be easier for my mother to get child support. But once they did, he got married to another woman a few months later."

"Do you ever see him?" Sakura asked, curious.

Syaoran shrugged. "Every now and then."

"So your mother raised five children all by herself?" Sakura's voice was incredulous. She couldn't even imagine how difficult that must have been.

"She had help from her parents until they died."

"She sounds like an amazing woman," Sakura said in awe.

"She sure is." Syaoran smiled fondly but it was brief. "But she never remarried. She almost did once but that crashed and burned. He didn't get along with me or my sisters. After that, my mother said she was done with those types of relationships because we gave her all the love she ever needed."

Sakura didn't say anything while he told her all of that. She just listened to him talk and Syaoran found that he felt better just saying those things out loud. So he continued. "That's why I find it hard to believe in a romantic love between a man and a woman. It might exist, but I think it's really rare. I seriously doubt I will ever experience it."

"I think I know what you mean," Sakura finally said. "The genuine thing is hard to come by."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence where neither one of them knew what to say. Sakura started fidgeting nervously and Syaoran was finding it hard to figure out where put his eyes. Like most males, he was uncomfortable with such talks.

They were thankfully saved by Sakura's father calling out to Sakura. "Dinner's ready!"

"Okay!" Sakura called back, relieved. She jumped to her feet and was at the door before she paused. "Um, thanks for cleaning my room I guess."

"No need to thank me. I will make you pay for it." Syaoran said, flashing her his teeth.

Sakura curled her lip at him. "Like hell you will. I think me helping you with your invisible problem is payment enough." And with that, she walked out of the room and shut the door.

"Make sure you bring me back something to eat!" Syaoran called out to her. There was no response.

* * *

"We need to make a plan for tomorrow," Syaoran said from his makeshift bed down on the floor. Sakura had stolen some of her brother's pajamas for him to sleep in and was _generous_ enough to surrender one of her blankets to him so he wouldn't freeze to death. Only after about an hour of his bitching had she given him her spare pillow.

"We?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow even though she knew he couldn't see her in the dark.

"Yes 'we'. Stop acting like that. You know the only way you're going to get rid of me is by helping me." Syaoran shifted around, trying to get comfortable. Her carpet was awfully itchy and the hard ground was relentless. He wondered why the carpet was different in her room than it was in the rest of the house. Probably because they knew it would just end up buried, he thought grouchily.

Sakura could hear him tossing around and felt a twinge of guilt. "Comfortable?" she asked. She hadn't meant it as a jab, but he took it that way.

"No." His reply was short and crisp. The day was really starting to get to him. Finding out that he was invisible was stressful enough, but the knowledge that Sakura was the only girl who could help him was giving him an ulcer. He heard her covers move and was suddenly blinded by the light from her bedside lamp.

"Look." She said, leaning over the edge of her bed so she could see his face. "My bed is really big. If the floor is _that_ uncomfortable, you can sleep with your head by my feet."

Syaoran was taken aback. Here she had been accusing him of being a pervert all day and now she offering him a place on her bed. "You trust me?"

Sakura snorted as a response. "I trust you to know what would happen to you if you try anything. Besides, if I didn't trust you, would I be letting you sleep on the floor? It's just as easy for you to get up from down there and molest me as it would be for you to roll over and do it."

She made a valid point and he wasn't about to argue. Her bed looked nice and cozy, especially compared to the floor. He had been dreading an awful backache anyways. Without needing any more persuasion, Syaoran dragged up the blanket and pillow she let him borrow and threw it by her feet. "Thanks."

"No problem."

As soon as they were both settled in Sakura turned off the lights again. Her eyes remained wide open in the darkness, staring blindly at the ceiling. Despite what she told him, it was VERY unnerving to have him sleeping in the same bed as her. He was putting out a lot of body head and she could almost feel his breath on her feet. It was strange, but not entirely bad. She forced herself to suppress a groan. She had no idea how she was supposed to get any sleep.

"Do you have any ideas?" Syaoran's voice broke through her little reverie.

"Huh?" Sakura said articulately.

"For the plan." There was a tinge of impatience in his voice, but not enough for her to care.

Sakura chewed on her lower lip. It was a bad habit that she had been meaning to quit for some time. "I was thinking that I'd go to that Psychic House and talk to Madam Marie."

"Mirai."

"Whatever." Sakura waved her hand flippantly even though he couldn't see her do it.

"That won't do you any good."

"Do you have a better idea?" Sakura snapped.

"Nope. By all means, go ahead."

Sakura wasn't so sure that it wouldn't be a waste of time, but didn't want to hear that from him. It wasn't like she had any other ideas anyway. Instead of continuing the conversation, she rolled over and said, "Goodnight."

"Night."

* * *

When Syaoran awoke the next morning, it was to the soft click of the door closing. Still groggy from sleep, he sat up in the unfamiliar bed and slowly looked at the girl who had just entered the room.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Did I wake you up?"

"Not really." Syaoran yawned and stretched to get the stiffness out of his muscles. He glanced over Sakura's appearance and noticed that she was already dressed for the day. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long," she lied. Actually, she'd been in and out of sleep the whole night and as soon as the sun rose, she had been unable to fall back to sleep. Unwilling to toss and turn some more, she crawled out of bed and got dressed.

It was odd getting out of a bed with a guy in it. Even if nothing happened, it still felt like forbidden territory. Sakura blushed deep crimson at the thought of what Tomoyo would say if she knew.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing." Sakura shook her head violently to get the bad thoughts out. "You should get dressed. If my brother saw his pajamas walking around on their own, I don't think he would understand." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "How long have you been wearing your clothes anyways?"

Now it was Syaoran's turn to blush. "Just a couple days." Sakura's nose crinkled in disgust. "Hey! It's not my fault. I don't have anything else to wear and I don't even know if the clothes I'm wearing right now are invisible or not."

"I didn't say anything!" Sakura had to nibble on her lower lip to keep from laughing.

"Sure. I know what you were thinking."

Sakura raised an eyebrow in challenge. "So now you think you know what's going on in my head?"

Syaoran could have laughed out loud. Yea right. "Nope. Definitely not." She was one of the few people that he just couldn't figure out. He would never live it down if Meiling even found out. Speaking of which… "I just hope that we can get this whole mess straightened out before my family comes back."

"How long do we have?"

"You don't need to worry," Syaoran assured her. "They're going to be gone for a week."

"Good. That's one less thing we have to worry about."

"Unless it takes us more than a week," Syaoran pointed out. Sakura grunted.

* * *

"I really wish I had a change of clothes," Syaoran whined. "These are really starting to stink."

"Yea, I know. I can smell." Syaoran was about to respond, but she interrupted him. It seemed to be another habit of hers, one that he had every intention of correcting. "Be quiet." They had finally made it to the Love's Future Psychic House. The walk there was long, but Sakura hadn't wanted to involve her father or brother in their predicament by asking for a ride.

Syaoran felt dread looking at the small building. If it were up to him, he would burn the stupid thing to the ground so he would never have to look at it again. It would serve Madam Mirai right.

Sakura wasn't intimidated by the building in the slightest and entered without hesitation. Syaoran followed, a little less sure of himself. Without missing a beat, Sakura walked up to the same clerk that had been there both times Syaoran visited.

"Yes?" the clerk asked, smacking her gum.

"I'm here to see Madam Mirai."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but it involves one of her former clients," Sakura answered truthfully.

The clerk frowned slightly. "I'm sorry but-"

Madam Mirai herself interrupted her. "It's okay," she said, coming out of her room that smelled like smoke. She then addressed Sakura. "I assume by 'former client' you're talking about the young man who is standing behind you?"

The clerk glanced behind Sakura before throwing a confused look at Madam Mirai. Her confusion was ignored.

"Yes, ma'am."

Syaoran almost fell over at the sickeningly sweet smile Sakura directed at Madam Mirai.

"By all means, come in. You too, Syaoran," Madam Mirai said, a hint of a smile on her painted lips.

Every part of Syaoran's brain told him not to, but his legs disobeyed and he found himself in the dreaded room once more.

Madam Mirai sat down and gestured for them to do the same. "So, what can I help you with, dear?"

Sakura continued to smile and her voice sounded like liquid sugar when she answered. It reminded Syaoran of a little girl who wanted her parents to buy her an expensive toy. "I was wondering if you would be so kind as so tell us how to get Syaoran back to normal?"

Madam Mirai had obviously been expecting that. "Sorry. I can't tell you."

Sakura's impeccable smile faltered. It was only a split second before it was plastered on her face again. "Excuse me?"

"I can't tell you."

Sakura's chest moved up and down slowly like she was trying to control her anger, but her face remained the same. "Why not?"

"Several reasons." As she talked, Madam Mirai ticked the reasons off on her fingers. "It's not in my nature, this is something you need to figure out on your own, and… he insulted me."

Syaoran swallowed nervously. He really wished the old hag hadn't said that last one. Sure enough, Sakura glared at him with all the fire of Hades.

"You seem like such a nice girl," Madam Mirai continued. "Smart too, I'm sure. You'll be able to figure it out."

Sakura's grin seemed more like a grimace and it seemed to Syaoran that her smile was showing a lot more teeth than was necessary.

"Thank you for your time," Sakura managed to growl and stood up sharply. She turned on her heel and exited with Syaoran close behind her.

He was dying to say 'I told you so' but figured it wouldn't be a good idea. After all, he didn't have a death wish.

"What a crock of shit!" Sakura shouted as soon as they were out of Love's Future.

"That's exactly what I said," Syaoran offered timidly. It was kind of funny that they thought the same way. "I noticed that you can really turn on the charm when you want something."

"Naturally." She brushed off the compliment with a wave of her hand. She sighed with much effort when she remembered that it still hadn't done them any good. "I guess you have to come back to my house with me."

"Yup."

Sakura's eyes turned heavenward. "If I make it through this week, I'm going to be very surprised."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"This sucks," Sakura moaned, burying her face in her hands and trying to ignore the trickling noise.

"Quit your bellyaching. I'm the one having to…" Syaoran paused to think of the most appropriate way to phrase the situation. "…PEE with you in the same room."

"Oh ho!" Sakura let out a breath of irritation. "_My_ bellyaching? You're the one that just _couldn't _wait 30 minutes for my dad and brother to go to work!" She was trying to keep her voice down but Syaoran was really testing her patience. It was bad enough that she had to stay in the bathroom with him so her family wouldn't get suspicious of the toilet magically filling and flushing on its own, but now he was blaming it on her.

"Hey!" Syaoran snapped. "I tried! One minute longer and you'd have had a nice large puddle on your carpet."

Sakura still had her hands over her face and her eyes squeezed shut tight. "I have a solution for this problem," she declared and removed one hand from her face to rest it on the side of the tub she was sitting on.

"And what's that?" Syaoran was slightly curious; maybe she was finally going to say something intelligent.

"I'll just have to stop giving you liquids. That way you'll just get dehydrated and shrivel up. Aren't you done yet?"

Okay, perhaps not so intelligent.

"No. It really was an emergency. Just be happy it's not number two."

Sakura groaned loudly. "When will this nightmare end?"

"Sakura? Is everything all right?"

Sakura stopped mid-moan at her father's voice. "Everything is FINE," she answered.

It was obvious to her father that everything was _not_ fine but he let the subject drop all the same. Perhaps he thought she was having girl problems or that her dislike of vegetables was finally catching up to her. She didn't really care what he thought as long as he didn't pry.

"I'm going to work now. I'll see you later."

"Bye." Sakura listened for his footsteps to retreat before she allowed herself to relax. "One down, one to go." She was stopped from saying more by the sound of the toilet flushing.

"All done," Syaoran declared and watched as she slowly opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the light. She focused her attention on him.

"Finally."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me."

* * *

"I thought your brother would never leave."

Sakura laughed dryly. "Knowing him, he probably thinks something is up and wants to make things harder for me."

"Sounds like something I would do to one of my sisters."

The scary girl glared at him. "All older brothers should be thrown off a cliff."

"I'm actually a _younger_ brother," Syaoran couldn't help pointing out.

"And all younger brothers should be tortured before being _led_ off a cliff." She reached over and pulled a peeling knife off the knife rack and started to play with it.

"What is that for?" Syaoran asked, very proud of himself for being able to keep his voice from indicating how uncomfortable she was making him.

"Peeling."

"Peeling what?"

Sakura hid her evil grin. Messing with his head was so much fun. "Oh, I don't know… things."

Her answer was very ambiguous and he hadn't liked that at all. Not one tiny little bit. Too many horrible images came to his overactive imagination. Sakura enjoyed the shudder her unspoken words had evoked from him.

"Something wrong?"

"Nope, nothing at all. I was just wondering…" Syaoran racked his brain desperately for something to say. "…if I could take a shower! I feel really dirty."

Sakura was slightly disappointed he had wriggled his way out of that one, and replaced the knife to its proper spot. "Sure, go ahead. Just leave your clothes outside the bathroom door."

"Why?"

Sakura reached for the knife again. "Don't ask questions. Just do it."

Syaoran nodded curtly and scampered away.

Sakura watched him go. She may or may not have taken a peek at his caboose as he went.

* * *

When Syaoran finished his shower there were clean clothes including boxers folded in place of where he had thrown his dirty clothes earlier. Upon closer inspection he discovered that the clothes were too big for him. Obviously, Sakura's brother was going to be missing another outfit.

Before changing into the clothes, another thought occurred to Syaoran. "Boxers?" They certainly weren't his. He would never own boxers with pink hearts that read 'Happy Valentine's Day'. That would mean they belonged to her brother.

"Ew."

Making sure that the towel was secure around his waist, Syaoran marched into the living room. Sakura was sitting in on the couch, leaning against several pillows and reading a book. She glanced up and did a double take, apparently startled by his appearance.

"What is this?" Syaoran asked, lifting up the offending pair of undergarments.

Seemingly recovered from her initial shock, Sakura opted for sarcasm. "Boxers. Ever heard of them? I know you prefer thongs but-"

"I know _what_ they are. _Whose_ are they?"

"You should have just asked that the first time." Sakura put a bookmark in her place and shut the novel. "They are my brother's. You didn't think they were mine, did you?"

Syaoran ignored her last question. "That's gross. I'm not going to wear your brother's underwear."

"Why not?"

"Because it's unsanitary!"

"They're clean," she argued.

"It's still wrong."

"They haven't ever been worn, you pansy." Sakura stood up so she was eyelevel with him.

"How would you know that?" Syaoran challenged.

"Because they were at the bottom of his drawer. Speaking of which, I was really surprised that I didn't find any of his porn. I wonder where he keeps it."

Trying really hard to block out that unnecessary information, Syaoran focused on the task at hand. He still wasn't convinced. "Look, just give me back my clothes." He was beginning to feel a draft and didn't want to argue with her.

Sakura jerked her thumb in the direction where a lot of noise was coming from. "I can't. I'm washing them." She continued with her argument about the heart boxers. "I know for a fact that he hasn't worn them before."

"How?"

"Because he said he would never wear them the day that my grandma gave them to him. He doesn't seem to consider it his style."

"Oh."

"Now…" Sakura allowed herself a malicious smile. "I suggest you put on some clothes. You're a little exposed. Nice areolas by the way." She couldn't resist. She'd been dying to get back at him for the locker room incident.

Syaoran had the decency to blush and walked away as fast as his legs would carry him.

* * *

"How long have we been sitting here?" Syaoran asked.

"An hour."

"Is that all?" He could barely believe it. "It seems like so much longer."

Sakura massaged her temples. "Believe me, I know. I did _not_ picture spending my Spring Break trying to come up with ways to help some idiot."

"This isn't exactly the way I imagined spending my break either. The next time my cousin tries to get me to do something I'm going to scream and run away."

"Just say no," Sakura quoted, grinning at Syaoran. He smiled back before getting serious again.

"Back to brainstorming."

"Right."

There was silence for almost a full five minutes before the phone rang. Sakura jumped to her feet, relieved. "I'll get it!"

"No, I will," Syaoran said sarcastically, but it lacked malice.

"Hello? Oh, hi Tomoyo! What are you doing?" There was a pause in which Sakura frowned. "Um, I don't think I can… okay… I'll talk to you later. Bye." She hung up and sighed sadly.

"What was that all about?"

"It was Tomoyo. She's at the mall and wanted to know if I could come."

Syaoran was confused. "Why did you say you couldn't?"

Sakura looked at him like he had a screw loose. "I promised that I would help you."

Syaoran was surprised that she cared that much. It actually kind of made him feel bad for dragging her into this whole mess. "Uh, well, it's not like we're getting very far with this. I don't mind if you go," he finally was able to spit out. The reward was definitely worth it.

Sakura's smile was huge. It didn't last long though. "But I don't want to leave you here alone."

"Who said anything about me staying here? I'm going with you." At her skeptical expression, he continued. "I promise I'll be on my best behavior."

That was obviously good enough for her because she snatched up the phone and started dialing some numbers. While it was ringing she said, "Why don't you go get changed back into your clothes? We still don't know if what you're wearing now is invisible."

He didn't bother to respond, her friend had already answered the phone.

* * *

"One good thing about being invisible," Syaoran said while stepping off the bus. "I don't have to pay the bus fare."

Sakura coughed from right behind him. "Cheap." She coughed again.

"How clever," Syaoran retorted. Her response was to stick her tongue out.

It didn't take them long to find Tomoyo. She was standing by a smoothie shop and looking at her watch. A large smile appeared on her face when she saw Sakura. "Finally! I was about to slit my wrists. Being at the mall alone is so boring."

"_Being _at the mall is so boring," Syaoran said.

The edges of Sakura's mouth twitched upward slightly. "Yea." Her answer was directed at both Syaoran and Tomoyo.

"Come on." Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her into the nearest store. Syaoran almost had to jog to keep up; Tomoyo was fast. Sakura on the other hand was used to the pace and just let her best friend drag her everywhere.

Tomoyo stopped at several sections in the clothes store and picked up a few items. "I saw this while I was alone and thought it would be perfect for you!" She lifted up a yellow sundress before shoving it into Sakura's arms and grabbing something else for herself.

By the time they made it to the dressing rooms, Sakura was panting slightly and Syaoran was gasping for air. Tomoyo's cheeks were flushed an attractive pink and a silly grin was plastered on her face.

"Tomoyo loves to shop," Sakura whispered to Syaoran when Tomoyo wasn't paying attention.

"I didn't notice."

"Sakura!" Tomoyo waved a hand in front of her face at a gnat. "Go change."

"Fine."

The two girls went into fitting rooms right next to each other and Syaoran sat down to watch. He almost fell out of his chair when Sakura opened the door.

"This definitely doesn't fit," Sakura growled at Tomoyo, who appeared seconds later. It certainly did not. In fact, she hadn't even been able to button it all the way. Her glare went from Tomoyo to Syaoran when he burst into laughter. She would have said something, but Tomoyo was still there. Instead she settled for slamming the changing room door. Tomoyo looked confused but didn't ask.

Several hundred outfits later they emerged from the shop with one dress each and a flabbergasted Syaoran trailing behind them.

"All of that for one stupid dress?" Now he knew why his sisters were always out for hours when they went clothes shopping. Whatever they bought had to be _perfect_.

"That's why I hate shopping," Sakura explained under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Tomoyo asked.

"No. What's next?"

"Swimsuits!"

Sakura blanched. "Swimsuits?" She glanced over her shoulder at a smirking Syaoran.

"That's what I said. Ya deaf?" Tomoyo teased and ducked into a different store.

"Great."

"Great!" Syaoran mimicked with more enthusiasm.

Sakura started sweating when she saw what Tomoyo wanted her to try on. "That's _not_ a bathing suit!"

"Sure it is!"

"Barely!" Sakura really didn't want Syaoran to see her in something like that. He was incorrigible enough as it was.

"Don't be bashful," Syaoran teased. "I've already seen you in your bra, remember?"

"Shut up."

"Why?" Tomoyo asked, clearly confused.

"Never mind."

* * *

Tomoyo won in the end, as always.

Sakura sipped her chocolate shake and tried not to let Syaoran see that her face was still bright red. She had to endure all of Syaoran's catcalls as Tomoyo handed her more and more bikinis. Of course, Tomoyo had tried on her fair share, but she didn't have to listen to Syaoran's comments. Sakura was now very aware of how much more endowed her best friend was than herself.

"That won't work," Syaoran said slyly, referring to her attempt to hide her face. He would have kept teasing her, but nature was calling. "Is there a bathroom around here somewhere?

The thought of not answering him and letting him suffer was very tempting. Then again, if she didn't tell him he would stay around and bother her more. Best behavior, he said. Puh! She hated to think of his _worst_.

She pointed to the mall bathrooms discreetly. "Thank you," Syaoran said before standing up and walking away.

"Finally," Sakura said when he was out of earshot.

"Finally what?" Tomoyo questioned. When Sakura waved her question off, Tomoyo said, "I'm really starting to worry about you. You never used to talk to yourself before… at least not this much. Is something wrong?"

"No." The word had barely left her mouth when she felt a finger jab her in the side, right on her most ticklish spot. Sakura jumped sky high, her stomach muscles contracting almost painfully in an effort to protect themselves. At the moment she didn't care if Tomoyo thought she was crazy, she was going to give Syaoran a piece of her mind. That had hurt! "You stupid-"

"Hi, Sakura."

The words died in her throat.

"E-Eriol?"

"Yep." Eriol smiled, making the sides of his eyes crinkle. "Now, what were you about to call me? A stupid…?"

Sakura laughed nervously. "Oh, never mind that! I thought you were someone else."

Tomoyo looked at her strangely, probably wondering who Sakura mistook Eriol for. Obviously deciding that it was a question to ask later, she turned her attention to Eriol. "Do you want to sit down with us?"

"Sure." He gave her a smile again and plopped down on the chair that Syaoran had previously been occupying. Sakura chuckled inwardly. Syaoran would love that.

"What brings you here?" Tomoyo asked the newest member to their table.

"Looking for a new shirt."

Sakura couldn't help herself; she was watching Eriol's every move like some sort of predator. Tomoyo and Eriol, of course, didn't even notice.

"You're very obvious about your feelings." Syaoran's deep voice in her ear shot shivers down her spine.

"Am not," she mumbled.

"Sakura, what did I tell you about talking to yourself?" Eriol said jokingly, but Sakura was barely paying attention to his words. She was too busy watching Syaoran out of her peripheral vision as he sauntered up behind Eriol and stood with his hands on his hips. "Sakura?"

"Um, yea, don't do it?"

Both Eriol and Tomoyo chuckled at that. Sakura forced one out but was still watching Syaoran.

"Hey, Buddy, you're in my seat." Although Sakura knew he was teasing, she couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination. "Hmm… doesn't look like he's going to move. What do you think I should do, Sakura? Just tilt his chair over perhaps?"

"No!" Sakura cried without even thinking.

"You don't want Eriol to stay and eat with us?" Tomoyo asked, confused once again. Sakura vowed to herself that she really needed to pay more attention to the conversation.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant! I-"

"That's right, Sakura," Syaoran taunted. "Think of an excuse fast."

'Shut up' was on the tip of her tongue but she instead managed to say, "I must have misunderstood you."

Tomoyo and Eriol accepted that explanation and went back to what they were talking about before Sakura interrupted them.

"I was just kidding you know," Syaoran said and sat down next to Sakura. "I wouldn't do that. After all, I _did_ promise to be on my best behavior."

Despite herself, Sakura smiled. She actually would have been very entertained to see Eriol and Tomoyo's faces.

Syaoran quickly became bored while the other three engaged in pleasant conversation. Sakura was pretty much ignoring him and it wasn't like he could talk to anyone else. Without much enthusiasm he watched Sakura, then Tomoyo, and finally Eriol.

What was it exactly that Sakura liked about that guy? Sure, he seemed nice enough and was probably good-looking from a girl's perspective, but there had to be more to it than that, right? An idea slowly crept into his head and he had a hard time concealing his goofy smile.

Standing up, he leaned over the table to put his head between Sakura and the others. As he suspected, she jerked back and almost fell off her chair. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Um, talking?" Eriol offered. Sakura's face heated up and she stammered an explanation. When Eriol's attention was diverted, she glanced at Syaoran with a scowl on her face. He only smiled as an answer and sat back down.

Syaoran repeated his little game several times, making grotesque faces only inches away from Sakura's. It was taking all her effort not to laugh and became evident that both Tomoyo and Eriol thought she was going insane. That was okay with her. Maybe she really was going insane; Syaoran now seemed more amusing than annoying. It was a strange revelation for her that he wasn't as bad as his first impression had led her to believe.

Syaoran felt a strong rumbling in his stomach and groaned inwardly. It couldn't be helped; his body wouldn't wait any longer. He tugged on Sakura's shirt to get her attention. "I hate to rain on you parade, but I'm starving."

Sakura nodded her head a fraction and stood up, getting her friends' awareness. "Well, I should probably try to catch the bus home. I would eat here, but I'm in charge of making dinner for my family tonight."

"Oh." Tomoyo smiled sadly and handed Sakura her bags. "Here you go. I'll call you later."

"Bye, Sakura. Maybe I'll see you later this week," Eriol added.

"Later!" Sakura called over her shoulder and walked towards the mall exit.

"Sorry I made you leave," Syaoran apologized. "But I might have disintegrated before your very eyes."

"That hungry, huh?" Sakura teased. "It's okay. I was thinking about leaving soon anyways." She sighed and shifted her shopping bags to her other arm.

"I can help you carry those, you know."

Sakura smiled at him and laughed good naturedly. "Thanks, but I don't think these people," she gestured at everyone around them, "are accustomed to floating bags."

"Oh, that's right," Syaoran said sheepishly. "I guess I forgot."

"Let's just get to the bus," Sakura said, effectively ending the conversation for the time being.

* * *

"Thanks again for dinner," Syaoran said and dried the dish Sakura handed to him.

"You had to eat," she answered with a teasing smile. "Otherwise I would have made you watch me eat dinner with my family with an empty stomach."

"Speaking of family…" Syaoran started drying the last plate. "When do they get home?

The female brunette glanced at the stove clock. "About and hour, I guess. Thanks," she added, referring to his help with the dishes.

"You're welcome. I thought I might as well, if I ever want you to cook for me again."

"Finally!" Sakura put her hand to her forehead in a gesture of fake lightheadedness. "Someone who understands! I swear my brother is going to starve one of these days for not helping me clean up." She was spared Syaoran's response by the phone ringing. Without missing a beat, she bounded over and plucked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Syaoran chuckled at her childishness. She looked like a little girl waiting for a call from her mommy or daddy. Sadly, he found it endearing. It was nice that she kept some of her childish enthusiasm.

It was hard not to eavesdrop. Trying to be polite, Syaoran moved father away so that he could only hear her side of the conversation.

"Hi, Tomoyo!" Sakura chirped with a big smile on her face. Apparently, she was in a very good mood. "Did you have a good time after I left? ... Oh really? What is it? ... There's no way I'll be able to guess. Just tell me."

Syaoran watched as the smile slowly slid off her face. There was a long pause of silence before Sakura smiled again, but this time her heart wasn't in it. "That's great!"

He definitely was staring now. What was going on? The two continued to talk for a while before finally saying their goodbyes. When Sakura hung up the phone, she let out a deep sigh. Syaoran was afraid to ask, so he didn't.

"Ah, I have to go to the bathroom." Sakura glanced up at him quickly. "Be back in a second."

"Okay," Syaoran answered. She walked away.

What was that all about? He didn't really want to ask her about it because who knew what it could be? It wasn't like it was any of his business anyways. "Right," he said out loud to himself as reassurance, and tried to push it out of his mind.

For about ten minutes he was there doing nothing. Sakura sure had been in the bathroom a long time. He was fighting an inner battle of whether or not to check on her. There was always the embarrassing possibility that she was constipated or something and he wasn't sure he wanted to know, if that were the case.

"I'm being stupid," Syaoran finally concluded and headed for the bathroom. He just wanted to make sure she was alright.

Syaoran could see the bathroom light through the crack in the door. Carefully, he rapped his knuckles on the door. "Sakura?" There was no response. He knocked a little louder. "Sakura, are you okay?" Still nothing.

"I'm coming in." Slowly, Syaoran cracked the door open and pushed a little. When she didn't scream at him for being a pervert, he really started getting worried. "Sakura?" He opened the door the rest of the way.

Sakura was sitting on the floor, her head resting on her arms which were crossed over the rim of the tub, and she was on her knees. She didn't say anything or even look at him until he put his hand on her shoulder. Green eyes clashed with brown.

"What?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran stared at her, not quite sure what to say. "You were in here a long time. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said, her expression blank.

Syaoran looked at her, not quite believing what he was hearing. Did she really think he would believe that? "Sakura." The way he said it let her know that he wanted to hear the truth.

Sakura remained in a staring contest of sorts with him for several moments before giving in. She sighed dejectedly and flipped around so she was sitting on her bottom. "I don't know what I'm doing. I feel ridiculous."

"Just tell me," Syaoran said, plopping down next to her. Having four sisters, he knew the signs of when a girl needed to get something off her chest. All Sakura needed from him at that moment was a willing ear.

Sakura dragged her hands over her face, pulling on the flesh. "Eriol… asked Tomoyo to go out with him," she finally spit out. "And she said yes."

Syaoran was surprised. He really didn't know what to say. They hadn't known each other very long after all. "I… see," he said after a while. "But… what are you doing in the bathroom?"

Sakura turned her face toward him and he noticed with a pang that her eyes were glossy, almost watery. "I was afraid I was going to cry and I didn't want to do it in front of you." Sakura gave him a weak smile and turned away. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye and traveled down her cheek. "I'm sorry for laying this on you. You must think it's stupid."

"It's not stupid," Syaoran answered quietly. He debated with himself heatedly before putting his arm behind her on the side of the tub. To his surprise, Sakura bit her lip and leaned into him. Her tear soaked through the cotton of his shirt, but she didn't let any more fall.

"I really like him," Sakura said quietly. "I've liked him for a long time. I'm really surprised that Tomoyo didn't realize it. She usually notices those kinds of things."

Syaoran wasn't really sure that she wanted him to say anything, but decided to risk it. "My bet is that she liked him too and was too busy trying to impress him that she wasn't paying that much attention to you."

Sakura grunted an agreement. "Probably the reason I didn't notice she liked him either," she muttered.

"Probably."

In the silence, Syaoran noticed how odd the situation was. A day ago he had thought she hated his guts and now here she was, allowing him to comfort her. It was probably only because he was the only one she could talk to, since her best friend was part of the problem. If his past experience with his sisters was anything to go by, Sakura was probably feeling pretty down about herself and needed some reassurance.

"There's going to be lots of guys that are going to like you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there are several that already do. I spent the entire day following you around at your school. I noticed the way some of them looked at you."

Sakura snorted at his obvious attempt to cheer her up. "Can you read my mind? Or am I that pathetically obvious? Well, thanks for trying to make me feel better."

"I'm not lying!" Syaoran protested. "You're a very," he felt odd saying this, "pretty girl and really nice." Sakura snorted with humor. Syaoran backtracked a little. "Well, nice enough. I'm not going to lie – you have some sharp edges. But I personally think the edges are fun."

Sakura pulled away from him slightly to look at his face. The tear had dried on her cheek. "Thanks," she said and put her head back on his shoulder. "I'll get over this soon." Syaoran didn't say anything. "Because I'm really glad for Tomoyo. She just sounded so happy over the phone."

"You're a good friend." Syaoran squeezed her arm lightly.

"So are you," Sakura answered.

The duo sat in comfortable silence until Sakura giggled.

"What is it this time?" Syaoran asked.

It took her a moment to answer, but when she did there was a bit of that teasing air she usually had behind her voice. "I just find it amusing that the only one who can comfort me right now is invisible to the rest of the world."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Syaoran couldn't believe it was already Tuesday. They hadn't achieved anything on Monday and it had passed at a ridiculously slow pace. If being invisible weren't bad enough, having Sakura in a gloomy mood was agony. She was extremely snappy and wouldn't tease him like she used to. It left him feeling strangely empty. Still, he hadn't bothered her since she her heart had been bruised and needed time to recover.

Needless to say, Syaoran had a lot of free time on his hands. Perhaps Monday hadn't been a complete waste after all; he had finally thought of something.

"I've been thinking," Syaoran started and then paused to take a bite of his breakfast. He was a little nervous to voice his thoughts aloud. There was a very high possibility that Sakura would take what he had to say as an insult, as was becoming a habit of hers lately.

"Don't hurt yourself," Sakura muttered under her breath.

Syaoran only allowed his eyes to narrow a fraction. He told himself to be nice – at least she was insulting him like normal. Of course, normal for her was a permanent state of PMS.

"Actually, I was thinking about my little problem."

"Problem?"

"Yea, you know, being _invisible_ and all." He spat out the word 'invisible' like it was a dirty word that shouldn't be uttered in public.

"Oh yea." The annoying girl flicked her wrist at him like it was nothing important. "_THAT_ problem."

"Right." Syaoran ignored her implication that he had other problems worse than being invisible and sighed. She was awfully mean to him considering he had spent the majority of Sunday night and Monday comforting her.

"Well?" she drawled rudely.

Fine. If that was the way she was going to be, then he wasn't going to tiptoe around her anymore.

"I was thinking that maybe I'm not invisible to help myself. Maybe I'm supposed to help _you_ with your love life."

There. He said it. Despite that, the look on her face made him wish he had softened his words a bit. "That is to say-"

"Meaning what?!" she snapped. "That I'm so pathetic I need a stupid, clueless, egotistical BOY to give me love advice?!"

"I didn't say that!" It was probably fruitless for him to defend himself, but he was still going to try.

"You insinuated it!" Because of the way she was gnashing her teeth at him, he almost wanted to drop this topic completely. "And since when did this become all about me anyways? Madam Mirai didn't even know me when she put this spell or whatever on you."

Syaoran scratched his head, wondering how best to explain his thought process to her. "Well, she's a psychic, right? Maybe she saw that you would be going through a hard time soon and would need someone to help you through it."

"And you're the best man for the job?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"I was available to her and I pissed her off, so I guess she was trying to punish me or something."

Sakura gave him a look. "So I'm a punishment now?"

Whoops. He was going to pay for that one.

Sakura sighed and it seemed like all the anger dissolved from her bones. "Maybe you're right."

What?!

"What?!"

"Maybe you're right," Sakura said again, completely missing her companion's flabbergasted expression. "It seems a bit farfetched, but it _could_ be me. It's not like we have any other leads. We haven't gotten anywhere with the assumption that it's _you_ with the problem."

"Don't think of it that way," Syaoran murmured, feeling like an ass. "Everybody has problems."

"Thanks."

Syaoran looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself. Sakura couldn't help her curiosity, even though it was liable to bite her in the butt.

"Was that it, or do you have a plan as well?"

"Um…" Open mouth, insert foot. "I kind of have a plan."

And then Sakura asked a question that she would imminently regret. "What did you have in mind?"

* * *

"I can't believe I let you drag me back here." Sakura massaged her temples with the tips of her fingers and glared at the relatively crowded mall. "I really AM pathetic."

"Stop saying that!" Syaoran grouched. Truth be told, he wasn't happy about being there either. "Do you want to leave? I'm sure we can catch the bus if we hurry." The way he said it reminded Sakura of a fed up parent lecturing a child.

"No!" Sakura said quickly and then added under her breath. "Stop acting like the adult."

"Only if you stop acting like a child."

Instead of getting angry like Syaoran thought she would, a smile spread across Sakura's face. "Listen to us. Pretty soon we'll be sticking our tongues out and blowing raspberries at each other."

Syaoran smirked. "And then someone would whisk you away to the loony bin for arguing with the air."

"Oh yea! I almost forgot!"

"That I'm invisible?" Syaoran asked incredulously. When she nodded, he took a step backwards. "Maybe you really _do_ need to be locked away."

"Bite me."

Before she could say any more, Syaoran cut her off. "We're getting off task."

"Darn." Apparently Sakura wasn't looking forward to the looming events of the day. "What's the plan, Einstein?"

He didn't exactly have a complete plan, but she didn't need to know that. Besides, the best way to do things was to wing it. "Um…" Frantically, he looked at their surroundings and willed his imagination to come up with something good. His gaze landed on a long line by the coffee shop. Good enough. "Why don't we get in line for some coffee?"

"My treat?" Sakura guessed.

"Yes, but this is for _you_. Do you see that guy at the end of the line?" Syaoran pointed and she turned her head to see a guy standing by himself.

"Yea."

"I want you to show me how you act around guys you're interested in."

"What if I'm not interested in him?"

Syaoran wondered if she was intentionally being difficult or if it was just natural for her. "You don't have to actually be interested in a guy to flirt with him, do you?"

"I suppose not." Realization dawned on Sakura at last. "Oh! You want to see my flirting techniques. Why didn't you just say so?"

It took a lot of self control for Syaoran to restrain from rolling his eyes at Sakura. "Just go." He placed a hand on her lower back and pushed her gently in the direction of the coffee shop. A light shade of pink tinged Sakura's cheeks from the contact but she walked away before he could notice.

Luckily no one else had gotten in line so Sakura was right behind the formerly mentioned guy. He smiled at her as she approached and said, "Long line, huh?"

"Yea," Sakura answered meekly.

Syaoran took a seat nearby so he could observe without actually getting in the way. He eagerly awaited more conversation but was sorely disappointed. Five minutes later and all Sakura had said was 'yea'.

Deciding that she literally needed a _shove_ in the right direction, Syaoran rose to his feet and went to do just that.

Sakura's eyes followed him the whole way and widened considerably when she saw what he was going to do. "Wait!" she cried but it was too late. She stumbled forward and grabbed the stranger's back to balance herself. She let go quickly and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay," he mumbled and turned his back to her.

They didn't say anything else the rest of the time and Syaoran thought he was going to cry. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"What do you call that?" Syaoran demanded.

"Flirting?" Sakura offered timidly and took a sip of her frappuccino; probably not a good idea since it only reminded Syaoran of the fact that she forgot to get him something.

"Flirting?! You're kidding, right? All you said was 'yea' and 'I'm sorry'!"

"What was I supposed to do? Throw myself at him? You did that for me!"

A thought finally occurred to Syaoran's dense and invisible skull. "Sakura, have you ever _intentionally_ flirted with someone?"

"Not really." Sakura's answer was quiet and Syaoran couldn't tell if it was because she didn't want people to think she was talking to herself or if she was embarrassed. "I've never really made any _effort_ anyways."

He had had no idea. This made things awkward. "Okay, what do you think are your assets?"

"My assets?" she repeated dully.

"Yea, you know, what makes guys attracted to you?"

Obviously Sakura didn't have any problems with rolling her eyes and making him feel like an idiot. "If I knew that, why would I need your help?"

"Point taken." There was not way getting around this. "Well, I guess your assets are... your face and body-"

"Do try to mention things other than my physical appearance."

"Let me finish!" Syaoran barked, already annoyed that he had to say this in the first place. "There's also your sense of humor, wit, and definitely your smile."

For a second Sakura was stunned into silence. However, all good things must come to an end. "Thanks."

"I'm just being truthful," Syaoran admitted. Now that the thought about it, it was very strange she was still single. Maybe the death glares she gave without even realizing she was doing them had something to do with it. Of course, he would never tell her that.

Sakura pretended that hell hadn't just frozen over from Syaoran complimenting her, and tried to move the conversation along. "Okay, so what do I do with my assets?"

"Find a way to incorporate them into your flirting."

Sakura blanched. "How?"

"Smile a lot, make jokes, blink deliberately but be careful not to make it obvious, and act like you think they're really interesting."

"You sure do know an awful lot about flirting with guys," Sakura commented. Syaoran didn't like the insinuation.

"That's because _I'm_ a guy. I know what we like."

"Uh huh."

Oh, what he would have given to tickle her to death and wipe that smug smirk right off her face. His common sense told him that would be a bad thing to do in public. Maybe later.

"Let's get started!" Sakura whined.

"Okay, but first…" Syaoran pointed to a department store. "We get you something to wear."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" the brunette asked defensively and picked at the bottom of her unflattering baggy shirt.

"Nothing at all if you're sitting at home and watching television." Syaoran ignored Sakura's offended look. "But to get you noticed more, you need to wear something else."

"Fine." Sakura sniffed and latched onto her purse protectively. "But nothing too expensive. I'm not made of money, you know."

Unfortunately for her, Syaoran was letting her words go in one ear and out the other and had long since started browsing the racks – the clothes racks, you perverts. He pointed at certain things, instructing Sakura to pick them up. One particular shirt with a low cut made her blanch.

"There's no way I'm buying that."

"Who said anything about buying it?" he asked innocently, a little _too_ innocently. "I just want you to try in on."

"You're such a pervert." Nevertheless, Sakura grabbed the shirt. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were enjoying this."

"Of course I am!" He paused to point at some shorts. "I get to see you model again. Too bad we're not doing bikinis this time."

"You are so lucky I don't feel the need to pummel you today." Sakura smiled and Syaoran did the same, only his smile was a little more devilish.

"Oh darn."

"Stop acting masochistic."

"Who's acting?"

She knew he was kidding and decided to play along, "Oh goody. I'm a sadist you know."

"Perfect. It's my lucky day."

This conversation was getting a little too suggestive for Sakura, so she grabbed one last pair of shorts and went to the fitting rooms. At least then she wouldn't have to look at him.

The shirt turned out not to have as low a cut as they originally thought it did, much to Syaoran's disappointment. In fact, it flattered Sakura's figure nicely and she ended up wearing it out of the store along with a pair of shorts.

Purse considerably lighter, Sakura grumbled the whole way to their destination, a store very popular with teenagers.

"Strut," Syaoran commanded when they were at the entrance of the store.

"Excuse me?" Her ears must have been deceiving her.

"Strut," Syaoran repeated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You know, kind of sway your hips and hold your stomach in. That's not to say you're fat," he added quickly before she could get insulted. "It just makes your breasts seem bigger."

"You must be very brave to talk about my breasts that casually. Hi!" Sakura smiled and waved at an old lady who was staring at her. Said woman looked at Sakura like she was a diseased rodent and walked away quickly.

"If you don't watch it, we're going to have security following us around." Not that they could do much anyways.

"Shut your trap," Sakura commanded and entered the store. Syaoran followed right behind her.

"Who should our first victim be?" Syaoran asked.

"Don't make it sound like we're going to torture the guy," Sakura mumbled.

"My apologies," he said sarcastically. "Who's the first _lucky_ contestant?"

Sakura ignored the game show slur and glanced around the store. "I don't know. You tell me."

"Don't you have a mind of your own?"

"Not when it comes to this. I've never picked a guy out of a crowd to flirt with."

"Well, neither have I." Syaoran pointed out but looked around nevertheless. He wasn't really too sure about her taste in guys (seeing as he only had Eriol to go by), but he chose a guy that looked halfway decent. "How about _that_ guy?"

Sakura sighed. "I guess I have to get started somewhere."

When she sauntered up to the boy, Syaoran noticed several male heads turn in her direction. He smiled smugly. Now he was positive they had a wide selection of prey and plenty of opportunities for Sakura to mess up.

Once there, Sakura wondered what to say as an opening line. She supposed the traditional greeting would do.

"Hello," she said and got his attention.

He looked her up and down and gave a cocky smile. "Hey girl. You here alone?"

Something Syaoran said about her wit and sense of humor popped in her mind and she couldn't help herself from saying, "No, I'm here with an invisible friend."

He looked at her weirdly before walking away without saying another word.

"I thought it was funny," Syaoran said after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm doomed."

"Yes. Yes, you are."

* * *

"Now _this time_ try not to say anything embarrassing." It was funny the first few times, but Syaoran was beginning to wonder if he would ever be visible again. "Go!"

Sakura groaned in protest but went anyway. This was certainly an ego-deflating trip to the mall for her. The newest guy smiled as she approached and they exchanged the normal greetings. So far, so good. No horrible screw-ups and they were even walking together.

It happened in a matter of seconds. One moment Sakura was turning on the charm, and the next she was tripping over her own feet and waving her arms around in the air comically trying to regain her balance, before landing flat on her face.

Her current male companion burst into hysterical laughter and bent down to help her up. "Are you okay?''

"Truthfully?" Sakura asked while moving her nose around to see if it was broken.

"I'd probably be crying if it were me."

"Trust me, I am so close."

He laughed again and Sakura wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "Listen," he said, glancing at his watch. "I have to go now. It was nice meeting you."

"Yea, you too."

Sakura and Syaoran watched sadly as he walked away.

"At least you didn't _say_ anything to run him off," Syaoran said, attempting to crack a joke. Sakura was not in the mood.

"Gee, thanks."

Seeing how things weren't going great, Syaoran decided it was time for a break. "Why don't you get a large icy for us to split?"

"Sure," Sakura said dejectedly and dragged her feet to a place that sold icies without even griping about having to spend more money.

Armed with a large cherry flavored consolation, Sakura sat at an empty booth and Syaoran plopped down next to her so she could let him drink from her straw without looking suspicious. All she had to do was hold it loosely in her left hand and he would do the rest, which consisted of him practically crawling on the table to get above the straw.

"A large icy all for yourself?"

The voice startled Sakura so bad she almost dumped the icy on Syaoran's lap. That would have made him happy.

"Tomoyo?"

"And me too," another voice added. Sakura's heart pounded in her chest at the sight of Eriol.

"Eriol? What are you two doing here?"

Great, Syaoran thought, this wasn't what they needed at the moment.

"We're on our first date," Tomoyo declared happily and the invisible boy had the sudden urge to clamp his hands over Sakura's ears.

"That's great!" Sakura said, convincingly enough.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Eriol asked, polite as always. Still, Syaoran found it rude. The new couple always had a way of making Sakura sound like a little kid who couldn't take care of herself. And while he himself had mentally compared her to a small child, he didn't really think of her as incapable of doing things on her own.

"I…" Sakura trailed off to stall for time. "I had a huge craving for an icy and, since I have plenty of time to kill, I thought I would come and get one."

Syaoran found it simply amazing how she could act so normal when she was obviously in pain being in their presence. He really hoped they wouldn't stay long.

"Sounds like you, Sakura."

Syaoran wanted so badly to rip that guy's head off. How dare he assume he knew Sakura! Eriol had no idea what she was really like and probably never would!

Syaoran was startled out of his malicious thoughts when the icy was moved in his vision. Sakura wasn't looking at him, but he was pretty sure she was aware of what was going on in his mind. This was her way of telling him to calm down without actually saying anything.

He put his mouth over the straw and began drinking rather quickly to let out his frustrations. Still, he watched her out of the corner of his eye and could tell she was upset. If Tomoyo and Eriol didn't leave in the next five minutes, an invisible force would be _making_ them.

"Maybe we can do something together tomorrow," Tomoyo said, blissfully unaware.

"Sorry, I already have plans," Sakura said without missing a beat. "Maybe some other time."

"Yea." Tomoyo sounded a little disappointed but let it go. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "You should really get a boyfriend! That way we could double date."

Syaoran sipped faster, trying to keep occupied. He wondered how it was possible for Tomoyo to say something that hurt Sakura every time she opened her mouth without even realizing it. He had to stop suddenly when he was hit suddenly by an excruciating brain freeze.

"Uh, yea." That time Sakura didn't even bother pretending to be enthusiastic. Neither of the newcomers noticed. Syaoran was still clutching his head in pain.

Feeling frustrated, Sakura pulled the icy toward herself and took a big sip of nothing.

"You really _were_ craving an icy," Eriol commented at the gurgling noise the straw made.

Sakura glared at Syaoran quickly before putting the empty foam cup back on the table. The pain had finally let up and he was able to meet her gaze. "Yea." She was a woman of few words at the moment.

"Well…" Tomoyo glanced at her watch. "We gotta go. Our movie is almost about to start. I'll call you later."

The girl without a boyfriend plastered a fake smile on her face and waved as her best friend and former crush walked away, hand in hand. "Sickening," she muttered.

"Sakura," Syaoran said timidly.

"One more," Sakura whispered, her voice strained. "One more try and I'm done for the day."

It took Syaoran a while to figure out she was talking about their original intention for coming to the mall. "Okay." He was surprised that she was even willing to do that much. If he were her, he would have run the whole way home and never looked back. This time he would pick the guy out a little more carefully.

His gaze swept over the room and almost missed a guy who was openly staring at Sakura. She was a little busy staring at the tile to notice.

"Him," Syaoran said firmly.

Sakura looked up and made eye contact with the stranger staring at her. Neither looked away. When he stood and moved in their direction, Syaoran couldn't contain his glee. Finally there was a guy who made the first move!

"Hi," the guy said to Sakura. "I'm Akira. What's your name?"

"Sakura."

Akira slipped into the seat facing Sakura and flashed his pearly whites. "So, Sakura, are you here alone?" Syaoran found it amazing how all the guys had the same opening lines.

Sakura had to bite her tongue so she wouldn't make the same mistake as she had earlier that day. "Yea."

"That's a shame."

"Well, my friends just left, so…" It occurred to her that it probably wasn't a good idea to let him know no one else was with her. "I just have to wait until my brother comes to pick me up." Not a perfect save, but it would do.

"Ah. I couldn't help overhearing your friend say that you need a boyfriend."

Syaoran was taken aback. This guy certainly didn't waste any time.

Sakura just grunted. She was going to beat Tomoyo to a bloody pulp the next time she saw her. Maybe she would beat up Eriol too, just for good measure.

"I wish I could keep you company longer, but I need to go." Syaoran started bristling at the fact he had wasted their time until Akira continued what he was saying. "But if you're not doing anything tomorrow, we could go to the movies or something. If you want to, that is."

"That would be great!" Sakura said and smiled genuinely.

"How about I meet you here at six tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"See you then." He winked as he walked off and Syaoran really did bristle. He was about to say something tacky, but the words died in his throat when he saw Sakura's happy expression.

He just couldn't bring himself to say it.

* * *

"Stop breathing on my feet. It tickles," Sakura demanded and jerked her foot, almost catching the tip of Syaoran's nose. He jerked his head back in time but ended up banging it on the foot of the bed. Sakura snickered.

In retaliation, Syaoran grabbed her right ankle and started tickling the padding. He had been waiting to do that all day. It was time for her to suffer for her insolence!

"Stop!" Sakura gasped out before bursting into another round of hysterical laughter.

"What's the magic word?" Syaoran teased.

"Please stop!"

He didn't ease up in the slightest. "Wrong magic word."

"Pretty please?" Sakura attempted pitifully.

"No."

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"No. What makes you think 'please' is any part of it?"

The door to Sakura's room flew open and the pair on the bed froze.

"What are you doing?" Touya asked, looking at his sister like she was a freak. A lot of people had been looking at her that way lately. Should she be offended?

"Nothing?" Sakura offered pathetically, barely realizing that Syaoran was holding her foot in the air. She tried to get it free by giving a vicious kick, but Syaoran's grip held fast.

"Nothing, huh?"

"What? Can't a girl hold her leg in the air and laugh hysterically without being harassed by her older brother? It's a new abs exercise, alright?"

It was a little freaky the way both Touya and Syaoran quirked their eyebrows at her. Syaoran slowly ran his thumb down the padding of her foot and Sakura had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. If Touya didn't leave soon he would be witness to her laughing for no apparent reason.

Realizing she had no other choice, Sakura grabbed the pillow from under her head and chucked it at her door with all her might. "Get out!"

Touya reacted on reflex and slammed the door. He didn't bother reopening it.

"You're such a jerk!" Sakura screeched at Syaoran in a whisper, defying physics.

"Just getting back at you. Now, what's the magic word?

"Grow up."

"Wrong!"

Instead of letting her go like Sakura had hoped, Syaoran just dropped her foot and attacked her sensitive sides instead.

"NOO!!" she wailed.

"Say it then."

"Fine! Syaoran is the smartest and cutest guy in the entire world!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping it would blow out Syaoran's eardrums.

"Close enough." Syaoran conceded, finally releasing her and settling back into bed.

Sakura rolled out of the bed to retrieve her pillow and hit Syaoran over the head with it on her way back. "You're lucky I'm too tired to do more."

"Sure."

As she crawled back into the covers, she _accidentally_ kicked him. After a little more shuffling around, they both were comfortable and ready to go to sleep.

"Syaoran?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

Syaoran smiled into the darkness. "You're welcome." The room became quiet again until Syaoran just had to break it. "What? Nothing else to say?"

"What are you babbling about?" Sakura replied, sleep laced in her voice.

"Well, you always have to have the last word. I was waiting for it."

Sakura rolled her eyes and smirked into her pillow. "Fine. I can't believe I'm still letting a stinky, bad mannered, invisible boy sleep in my bed. Happy?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Yes. That's great," Syaoran said.

"Yes. That's great!" Sakura repeated into the receiver, examining her cuticles. Tomoyo had been going on about her date with Eriol for about thirty minutes. After the first ten, Syaoran had taken up the position of listening and telling Sakura what to say so it would seem like she was paying attention. Surprisingly, he had offered to do this. He would never tell her, but it pained him to see her faking enthusiasm for something that was quite obviously eating her up inside.

"And then…"

Tomoyo's voice was so excited and Sakura almost felt bad about blocking her out. She couldn't help it though. Her thoughts wandered back to a scene that had transpired around the breakfast table with her father and brother that morning. They were both oddly quiet but she couldn't gather the energy to inquire about it.

Finally her father had to say something and he did it with a smile on his face. "So, who's Syaoran?"

Unluckily for her, Sakura had been taking a sip of orange juice at that precise moment and choked on it. Touya reached around the table and pounded on her back until her coughing subsided. "E-excuse me?"

"Syaoran. You know, 'the smartest and cutest guy in the entire world'."

Sakura could feel a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face. "Huh?" she asked stupidly and hoping against hope that she was hearing things.

"You yelled it loud enough for the whole town to hear." Her father still had a smile plastered on his face, finding the whole situation highly amusing. Whereas her father only found it simply 'amusing' Touya seemed to think it was 'extremely entertaining'. Sakura, however, did not.

"I don't think I want to know what was going on in your room," Touya commented and snickered.

Sakura tried to hide her embarrassment with a witty quip. "More than you will ever experience, I'm sure."

Up until that point Syaoran had chosen to remain silent. His familiar laughter rumbled though the kitchen and Sakura found it sad that she was the only one who could hear it. Then again, if Touya heard Syaoran laughing at his expense, Syaoran might end up castrated.

Tearing her attention away from her invisible companion, Sakura looked back at her brother (who was gaping at her) and father who still had a smile on his face.

"Syaoran is a figment of my imagination." Syaoran let out another hoot of laughter at Sakura's words. "He would have to be. Everyone knows that the cutest and smartest guy is a woman."

The laughter stopped.

"What about me?" Touya asked, pointing at himself with his index finger.

"Are you a woman?"

"No."

"Then you must not be as cute as you think you are." Sakura inwardly pattered herself on the back for that one. She would normally make a jab at his intelligence, but Touya was well aware of his own intellect and the joke would have fallen flat. Instead she decided to hit below the belt – the only way his ego could take a blow.

"And me?" Syaoran demanded, interrupting her thought process.

While her family wasn't looking, Sakura pointed at her head and mouthed the words 'not that smart'.

"So does that mean you think I'm cute?"

Sakura chose not to answer that question and pretended like she was concerned with getting caught talking to him. Syaoran would later forget the question completely.

"How corny." Syaoran's voice reminded her that she was still on the phone.

"How corny," Sakura repeated. There was silence on the other end of the line.

"You think it's corny that Eriol said I'm beautiful before giving me a peck on the cheek goodnight?"

Yes.

Tomoyo's voice sounded hurt and Sakura shot Syaoran a dirty look. "No! Not at all! I must have misheard you! I actually think that was very sweet of him."

Syaoran arched a brow and since she couldn't say anything for the time being, Sakura settled for flipping him the bird.

"Well, Tomoyo, I'd better go. I'll talk to you later," Sakura said, not wanting to stick her foot in her mouth again if it were at all possible. She had been doing that way too often lately.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Sakura set the phone in the cradle gently and slowly raised her face to glare at Syaoran. "I trusted you."

"That was a stupid thing to do." He grinned at her cheekily and she couldn't help but return it. "Are you mad?"

"No," Sakura admitted. "It _was_ pretty corny."

"I thought I was going to gag." Syaoran put his finger in his mouth to emphasize his point.

"It wasn't that bad! It really is kind of sweet."

Syaoran just laughed again. It was starting to grate on her nerves.

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

Syaoran drummed his fingers on the carpet silently, the sound of it drowned out by the blasting of music. He shifted his weight and when his bottom started to get numb he shifted again. Quickly tiring of that routine, he flipped over so that he was lying on his stomach and practically making out with the carpet. He took a deep breath and gagged. They needed to get their house steam cleaned!

"What the heck is taking you so long?" he finally shouted. For several moments there was only the sound of loud music as a reply until it cut off abruptly.

"You say something?" Sakura's voice sounded exhausted as if she had just run a marathon. Apparently the heat from the bath water had taken a lot out of her.

"I asked what's taking you so long. You've been in the bathtub for almost thirty minutes!"

There was a splash as Sakura lowered herself back into the water and made a rude noise. "It takes girls longer to take baths," she stated simply.

"Obviously." Syaoran propped his head on his hands and stared at the door that was separating him from the brunette. "But _why_? Is it because you get dirtier than boys?"

Sakura snorted. "Yeah, right. It's because our hair is longer and we have to shave our legs and stuff. That takes a while if you don't want to cut yourself a million times."

Syaoran couldn't possibly care less at the moment. He thought he would die of boredom. "How much longer are you going to take?"

"Keep your panties on. I'm almost done." There was more splashing and the distinctive _thunk_ the bath drain made. "See? Now I'm just drying off."

"Actually, I can't see," Syaoran pointed out, glaring at the door.

The door opened suddenly and Sakura stood with steam billowing around her, clad in only a towel. Well, a towel and underwear. Syaoran could tell from his position on the floor. He had to blink several times.

"Forgetting something?" he asked, pushing himself into the seated position.

"Perhaps," Sakura answered, trying in vain to hide the flush that appeared on her cheeks. Quickening her pace, she moved towards her room to get dressed in the clothes she had stupidly left on her bed. "Stay there," she commanded and turned her back to him once again.

"What if I don't wanna?"

"Then do it anyways."

Syaoran was beginning to feel like he wasn't in control of himself anymore. Sakura was thinking something along the same lines but a little worse. She had always wanted a puppy that would follow her around and obey her commands.

When she was fully dressed, Sakura opened her door to see Syaoran sitting there and staring at her. It was kind of creepy. "I thought I told you to stay by the bathroom," she said teasing, but it was really to hide her surprise. The way he was looking at her made it hard to breathe.

"Even trained dogs don't always do what they're told. What makes you think _I_ will?" he asked and rose to his feet. Sakura's eyes followed him and she had to crane her neck slightly.

"Puh." her mouth was so dry she couldn't have said anything else if she had wanted to.

"Something wrong?" Syaoran asked, sounding concerned all of a sudden. "You don't look so good. Are you sure you're up to this date? If it's because of Tomoyo and Er-"

Sakura quickly cut him off. "No! I'm fine." Truth be told, she wasn't quite sure that was accurate. She knew the Eriol thing was still bothering her, but that wasn't the problem at the moment. She couldn't put her finger on the exact problem though.

"Sakura?"

"What?"

Syaoran frowned slightly. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?" He brought his hand up and placed it on her forehead. Sakura jerked backwards and laughed nervously.

"Positive! I must just be getting butterflies. Akira was really nice and cute. I'm just afraid I'll screw up tonight." Where had that come from?

"Uh huh."

"Well…" Sakura eased past Syaoran slowly and smiled. "I've got things to do. You know, blow-dry my hair, curl it, put make-up on and… yea." She practically ran out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Syaoran asked himself and shook his head slowly. She just kept on getting weirder.

Sakura flipped the switch to the blow-drier and started the long task of drying her hair. Her locks were still soaking wet and she knew it would take forever. Normally she would let it air-dry for a while but she needed an excuse for not talking to Syaoran at the moment. One question rolled around in her mind over and over:

What the heck was going on with her?

Ever since Syaoran had spent the night comforting her, her stomach felt funny when she looked at him. It was increasingly getting worse by the day, almost to the point where it was difficult to hide. It wasn't what she thought it was, was it? But then again, she hadn't felt like that about Eriol, so it had to be something else… but what?

Sakura swung her hair over her head and stayed in the bent over position so she could dry the underside. Her eyes slid closed so she could try and block out the world. It might have been her imagination, but she could almost hear a piercing sound.

When a hand placed itself on her upper back, Sakura's eyes flew open in surprise and she jerked upwards, dropping the blow-dryer at the same time. It slammed into the back of her head, turning itself off, and a flash of white erupted in her vision. Falling to the ground, she grabbed her aching noggin and hissed in pain.

"Sakura!" Syaoran exclaimed and knelt by her side. "Are you okay?"

"Just be quiet," Sakura grit out through her teeth. "I've got a headache." Syaoran complied and the only sound left was the shrill ringing of the phone. It soon quit and she stayed in that position for several minutes.

When the pain had subsided to a dull ache, Sakura looked at Syaoran with irritation. "You make speak now."

"Um…"

"Please tell me you had a reason for scaring the crap out of me and making me hurt myself."

Syaoran winced. "I- you're not going to like it."

"Try me."

"I was going to tell you the phone was ringing."

Silence.

He was right – she didn't like it. She was just having a lovely week. Hopefully it wasn't anyone important on the other side of the line, because there was no way she was going to get up any time soon.

"I'll be right back." Syaoran muttered and she felt his presence disappear, leaving Sakura by herself to brood for a total of 71 seconds. And yes, she counted.

Syaoran reappeared and gently lifted her wrist off her head and replaced it with something cold.

"I couldn't find any plastic bags," he explained. "So I wrapped some ice in a paper towel."

"Thanks," Sakura murmured.

Syaoran continued to hold his makeshift ice pack to the forming lump on her head until Sakura realized she was supposed to take it from him. "Well." Sakura rose to her feet unsteadily and half-smiled at him. "I'd better finish getting ready. I hope the blow-dryer didn't break."

Syaoran watched as she walked away, a smile absent from his features.

* * *

"I'm getting an annoying sense of déjà-vu," Sakura whispered, barely moving her lips. They weren't the only people on the bus and she didn't want the others to think she was babbling to herself like a crazy person.

"Yes, I think we've been to the mall several times too many this week," Syaoran agreed.

The bus came to a halt and most of the passengers got up and headed for the door, Sakura and Syaoran included. Together they made their way to the place Sakura and Akira had agreed to meet. It was getting close to six o'clock and he wasn't there yet.

Sakura seated herself at a booth and Syaoran sat down opposite of her. He could tell she was nervous because of the way she was fidgeting. He had a strong desire to make conversation and ease her worry, but didn't want her to be talking to him when Akira showed up. He didn't want to get them off on the wrong foot.

Sakura continued to stare at her fingers so Syaoran took the opportunity to observe her. She looked really nice for the occasion. Her hair was tied half up and half down and she'd even decided to wear a skirt. It came down to just below her knees when she was standing but had ridden up a couple inches while she sat and Syaoran couldn't help but stare at the smooth thigh it had revealed.

He shook his head to change the direction his line of thought had been creeping towards. As a distraction he glanced at his watch. It was ten minutes past six. Where the hell was that guy?

"Hey!" Akira walked up, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I hope I didn't make you wait long," he said by way of greeting.

"Not at all," Sakura replied, sliding out of the booth so she was closer to his eye level. There was something unnerving about having someone standing and talking to her when she was sitting.

"Are you ready?"

"Sure." Sakura reached for her deposited purse and made quick eye contact with Syaoran to make sure he was following. She needn't have. Syaoran hopped up and was a step behind them the entire walk to the theater located close to the exit of the mall.

Walking up to the ticket booth, Akira asked for two tickets to a movie neither Syaoran nor Sakura had ever heard of before.

"Eleven dollars," The girl said, obviously bored. She leaned over, exposing a large amount of cleavage and waiting for the money.

Akira stared at her a little too long for Syaoran's liking and finally reached into his pocket. A frown twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Oh shit!" he cursed. "I forgot my wallet."

The girl in the booth rolled her eyes and retracted her hand before Sakura spoke up. "I brought enough money. I'll pay." She dug around in her purse for a second before pulling out a couple bills to exchange for the tickets. Akira took them from her hands and led her to the theater.

They sat near the back of the theater barely in time for the commercials to start. Syaoran made sure he was directly behind them so he could watch their progress.

The movie sucked.

Sakura and Syaoran had both lost interest long ago, but Akira was practically glued to the screen. As far as Sakura could tell the movie consisted of just a lot of profanity, violence, and sex. Normally those things didn't bother her but this particular movie was ridiculous. There didn't even seem to be a plot.

Sakura yawned hugely and glanced at the screen. At that moment things were really heating up between the two main characters… or was it the main character and some girl he had just met? Oh well. It didn't really matter since she wasn't paying attention either way. Pretending to stretch, Sakura twisted her body to look at Syaoran and gave him a distraught expression.

"Maybe it will get better," the invisible boy said, quite unhelpfully in Sakura's opinion.

Facing the front again, she let out a breath of air slowly and tried to fixate her attention on the screen again. Eh… what was this movie rated?

Sakura was brought out of her musings quite abruptly by a large hand resting on her knee. She stared at it for a long time, not really comprehending, before it dawned on her and she moved her leg away discreetly. It must have been a mistake. Her leg was awfully close to his after all.

Or at least that was what she thought at first.

Her heart accelerated (not in the good way) as his hand found her leg once more and slowly crept higher. His fingers reached the hem of the skirt – why hadn't she worn jeans? – and slid under it. Sakura jerked away from his touch and hissed. "Stop it." Akira scowled at her and retracted his hand.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder and was stunned to realize that Syaoran hadn't noticed. He caught her eye and smiled. She tried to return it but couldn't and turned her head away. Syaoran frowned. What had he missed? Deciding to completely abandon the movie, he kept his eyes glued to Sakura.

Not five minutes later and new steamy scene had started and Akira's roaming hands found his date's leg again. Sakura tensed and Syaoran could feel his face burn with anger. His fists were clenched on the armrests so tight that his knuckles had gone white. He was so angry he couldn't even move.

Deciding she'd had enough, Sakura sprung to her feet and tried to pass Akira to get to the middle aisle. He used his legs to block her path. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Bathroom."

With a sudden burst of strength, Sakura shoved his legs away and passed him with ease. She walked through the theater quickly, wanting to get out. She was feeling extremely claustrophobic at the moment. She was completely out of the theater before Akira or Syaoran were able to react.

A scowl in his face, Akira got up out of his seat to follow her. Syaoran got to the end of the row and waited for Akira to pass him. As the unsuspecting boy was doing so, Syaoran stuck out his foot and watched with no small amount of satisfaction as Akira landed on his face.

Not bothering to hide his snicker of contempt since no one could hear him anyway; Syaoran jumped over Akira's body on the floor and went after Sakura. He took great pleasure in noticing that a lot of people were giving Akira dirty looks for disrupting their movie.

No longer in the theater, Syaoran caught a glimpse of Sakura walking out of the mall and quickened his pace to catch up with her.

The sun had already gone down and the air was slightly chilly. Sakura stood at the bus stop and waited impatiently, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to make them warm. Unbidden, the memory of Akira's hand on her leg assaulted her and she shivered, wanting to be home. No one else was around so when Syaoran approached her, she could talk freely. Not that she was offering any conversation starters.

"Hi," Syaoran muttered. She didn't respond. "I'm sorry," he added after a moment.

Sakura shot him a look of confusion. "For what?"

"If I hadn't pushed you, you wouldn't even be in this mess." He also felt completely useless since he hadn't been able to protect her.

"It's not your fault," Sakura muttered. She had to pause for a second because her throat closed up. "You can't help it if I attract the wrong kind of person."

Syaoran was about to reply but was interrupted by a pissed male voice.

"Hey!" Akira stomped up to Sakura, almost running into Syaoran who managed to jump out of the way in time. "What the hell was all that about?"

"I told you to stop it and you didn't. I left." Sakura stated the obvious, staring at the floor.

"What? Was I going too fast for you?" Akira sneered, grabbing her upper arm roughly and pulling her towards him. Sakura turned her face, but Akira's hand shot up and grabbed her chin, holding it in place.

Syaoran was livid. He could feel his blood boiling and knew that nothing good could come of it, but not caring. Without a second thought, he jammed his knee into Akira's side, causing him to release Sakura. Akira spun around to find the culprit but, of course, didn't see anyone.

"What the f-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as Syaoran landed another blow, this time making him fall to the ground. Sakura backed away from them instinctively. Syaoran placed his foot on the fallen guy's head and pressed it against the pavement. Akira wriggled away and stood, whipping his head around frantically. Syaoran was on him again in a split second.

Sakura had never seen a fight so close before. Well, there had been that time in junior high, but that was a wussy fight. It seemed more like they were trying to hug each other that beat one another up. This was so much different than that. It seemed a little unfair for Akira since he couldn't actually see his opponent, but it wasn't like she cared. It was his turn to feel vulnerable, as far as she was concerned.

Akira held a hand up to his bloodied nose, looking up at Sakura with confused eyes. She met his stare stonily. He finally seemed to wise up and turned tail to retreat.

Despite wanting to chase after him, Syaoran remembered that Sakura shouldn't be left alone and stayed put. She looked distraught and he couldn't think of anything to say.

The bus appeared soon after and they piled on, Sakura pausing momentarily to pay her fee. As soon as they reached her stop, Sakura practically flew from the public vehicle and sprinted the rest of the way to her house, Syaoran not too far behind.

The house was empty, but that fact barely registered on either of their minds. Without waiting for Syaoran, Sakura ran the rest of the way to her room and slammed the door behind her. It was an obvious hint to stay out, but Syaoran had never been much for taking hints.

Trying not a make a sound, he gently pried the door open and was surprised at the sight that greeted him. Sakura was sprawled on the bed, her face buried in a pillow, and shoulders shaking violently. "Sakura?"

She replied with something that sounded suspiciously like 'go away'. Alas, he was not easily deterred and shut the door before sitting next to her on the bed.

For the second time that week, he watched as she cried. This time was much more violent, seemingly amplified by her pain. A sob escaped her pillow and the shaking got worse. It scared Syaoran that such a small body could be wracked with such violent sobs. She was no longer trying to muffle her cries and was gasping for air before too long. The effort was almost too much, but she still cried.

She wouldn't stop and he didn't know what to do. His arms ached to hold her but he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. After some serious debating, he lay down next to her and pulled her back to his chest. Sakura's sobs halted, her breath catching in her throat. The stiffness left her shoulders and she relaxed, once again crying, but a lot less violently.

When it got to the point where the hot tears were just sliding down her cheeks, she wiggled around until she was facing Syaoran. Surprisingly, he didn't remove his arms from around her waist.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was raw from crying and she tired to swallow saliva to sooth it.

"It's not your fault."

"I'm such a loser," Sakura rasped, the tears welling up again, much to Syaoran's dismay. "First with Eriol and now with Akira."

"You are _not_ a loser," Syaoran said firmly. Sakura just ignored him.

"I'm so sorry Syaoran. Because of me, you're probably going to be invisible _forever_. There's no way that anyone will ever love me." Her voice was hysterical again. "They'll either see me as just a sex object or they'll notice that my best friend it much more attractive." She scrunched his shirt in her hands and buried her face, most likely trying to smother herself.

"Sakura!" Syaoran said sharply, shoving her away and forcing her to look at him. "That is complete bullshit! You're beautiful, nice when you want to be, and fun to be around! You will find someone who loves you, I'm sure. And as for me being invisible, we weren't even one hundred percent certain that it has anything to do with your love life. That was just a theory. Most likely, the problem is me. And-" His voice faltered looking into those amazingly green eyes, a brighter shade than usual because she was crying. When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter, barely above a whisper.

"And I wouldn't mind being invisible for the rest of my life as long as you could see me."

They stayed in that position for the longest time, Syaoran's arms wrapped around her and both of them staring.

"W-what?" Sakura tried to swallow the lump in her throat that felt like it would be lodged there permanently.

"It's true. As long as you're with me, I'll be okay."

Sakura blinked slowly and deliberately, trying to decipher what exactly was going on. Just when exactly had this conversation taken a turn like this? "What do you mean?"

And then he was kissing her.

Mostly from shock, Sakura's mouth opened slightly. He didn't take advantage of that and pressed his mouth against hers gently, not demanding anything. He wouldn't ever force her to do anything she didn't want to.

With a start, Sakura realized that this was what she wanted and she closed her eyes, pressing firmly against his mouth. She could feel the tension drain from his body and his mouth slowly part open. It was strange at first, tasting of salty tears and both of them unsure of what to do, until Syaoran finally took charge and deepened the kiss. Their hot breath mingled together, his tongue stroking the inside of her mouth and her gladly responding to the gesture. Sakura moved closer to him, molding her body to his and melting into the kiss. Her hands snaked around and up his back, coming to rest on his upper arm. She squeezed her fingers into his flesh, not wanting to let go.

They broke apart for air and Sakura leaned against his chest, breathing much harder than usual.

"I meant," Syaoran started. It took Sakura a moment to figure out that he was answering her earlier question. "That I certainly like you and could definitely grow to love you, if I don't already."

"Fair enough." Sakura snuggled as close to him as possible, smiling genuinely. "You know," she added, almost as an afterthought. "That was my first kiss."

"Mine too." Syaoran answered honestly and inhaled deeply. Sakura couldn't contain the evil little smirk that popped on her face, almost on its own.

"I could tell."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The first thing that Sakura felt when she rejoined the land of consciousness was a warm arm loosely draped over her body. A goofy grin completely out of her control spread across her face so far that it hurt.

"You probably shouldn't do that, you know," Syaoran murmured in her ear, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "Your face might get stuck like that."

Her eyes lazily opened and she flipped over to her other side so that they were face to face. She tried to think of a witty comeback, but her brain felt muddled and the only thing that came out was, "Hi."

The deliciously good-looking boy arched an eyebrow and mimicked her greeting, only more breathy. "Hiiiiiii."

The mood was shattered.

Sakura pulled back, pushing against his abdomen with her legs until she was on the edge of the bed and wrinkled the bridge of her nose. "Ew! Morning breath! Get away! Get away!" Getting reacquainted with his inner child, Syaoran sucked in a deep breath and blew it in her face. "Nasty!" she shrieked.

"Yea, well, you don't smell like no pixie yourself."

Deciding to totally gross out her companion, Sakura lifted her arm above her head and sniffed her armpit. "You're right. I think we both need to brush our teeth and take a shower."

"Together, by any chance?" Syaoran batted his eyelashes playfully.

"Sure!"

"Really?"

"No."

Syaoran frowned and, as punishment for teasing him like that, pushed her the rest of the way off the bed. "You first, stinky."

"The term is 'ladies' first. You go ahead," Sakura muttered, rubbing her side that she had landed on.

"True. You certainly aren't a lady." Syaoran swung his legs over the side of the bed, resting his feet on her butt.

"Get your feet off of me!" she cried and roughly shoved his legs away from her. "Now get up. I want you out of my bed right this second."

Syaoran gathered the blankets in his fist and brought them up to his chin, covering his smirk. "I knew it," he choked out, pretending to be upset. "It meant nothing to you. You were just trying to get into my pants!"

Sakura ripped the covers away from him and stood with her arms akimbo. "That's right." She pointed at the door. "Get out."

"I knew you wouldn't respect me afterwards!" Syaoran wailed, dragging himself to his feet.

"I didn't respect you from the beginning."

"How could you?!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Knock it off, Syaoran. I'm hungry. Let's go get breakfast."

Syaoran's antics ceased at the mention of food. "Breakfast? What are we having?"

Not bothering to answer him, Sakura opened the door and walked to the kitchen. As she got closer, a delicious smell made itself known.

"Real breakfast!" She cried upon seeing her bother at the table, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper like an old man. "You didn't make it, did you?" Better to ask now than to find out the hard way.

"No, dad did before he went to go get light bulbs. The pantry light went out again." He put the paper down and took a good look at her. "You look like crap. What happened?"

Sakura's hand automatically went up to feel her hair and was dismayed to find it a total mess. "I was really tired when I got home last night. I fell asleep in my clothes and everything." She shut her eyes, gave him a big smile that said 'I'm so dumb', and waited for his snide comment that would be coming any second now.

And second now…

Confused, Sakura reopened her eyes and let them focus on her brother. She was expecting him to be reading his paper again, staring at her like she was an idiot, laughing at her silently – _anything_ but what he was doing. He was staring intensely at something behind her.

Slowly, she peeked over her shoulder. Syaoran was standing a few feet behind her, unmoving and looking at her brother right in the eyes.

Time seemed to stand still for one agonizing moment before it was broken by the sound of Touya's chair scraping against the tile as he jumped to his feet. "What the hell?!"

"Oh shit."

It might have been Sakura or Syaoran who said it, neither of them was sure. It didn't matter. The point was that it was a lovely little summary of their current predicament.

Without thinking, Sakura twisted around and ran towards the front door, grabbing Syaoran's wrist and dragging him with her while leaving her brother frozen to the spot.

Sakura yanked the door open with surprising strength and ran headlong into another person. She tipped over backwards from the force of the impact and was caught by Syaoran. The other person wasn't so lucky.

Tomoyo landed on her bum with a thud and stared up at her friend with an extremely confused expression on her face. "Sakura? What's going on?"

"I-" The girl in question was cut off by a loud yell (almost a war cry) coming from directly behind her. Apparently Touya had relearned to use his legs. Sakura glanced back momentarily to see that he already had a hold of Syaoran and then tried to bolt like a frightened rabbit. The only problem was that Syaoran's hands had tightened on her shoulders and there was no way for her to break free.

"If I'm going down you're going down with me," he said by way of explanation.

"I love you too," Sakura growled.

* * *

Sakura and Syaoran sat on opposite ends of the couch where Touya had placed them before he began pacing. He muttered incoherently to himself while burning a hole in the carpet, occasionally stopping in front of one of them to open his mouth and try to force something out. If they attempted to say anything, he would hold his hand up to silence them.

It was at the same moment Sakura yawned that he stopped in between them, opened his mouth, and finally said something. "Y-you… an-and hi-" He broke off, his face turning purple. It took a few more minutes for him to better compose himself and the odd purple to gradually fade away. "You and him sl-slept…" A vein throbbed on his forehead, threatening to burst. "Together?"

"Yes," Syaoran answered without thinking.

There was a loud gasp from the forgotten Tomoyo and Touya looked like he was about to spontaneously combust.

"Syaoran!" Sakura shrieked and threw a pillow at his face. "You're not helping things!" She then addressed her big brother and best friend. "We didn't _sleep_ together. We just… slept together," she finished weakly. Why did she have to go illiterate at a time like this?

"Like that helped," Syaoran stated the obvious at Tomoyo and Touya's stricken expressions.

Not completely deterred, Sakura tried again. "He just shared my bed." A cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck from the intense stares she was receiving. "How do I explain this?" She voiced her thought process out loud. "He just laid me."

Syaoran convulsed with suppressed laughter while Touya convulsed with suppressed murder intentions.

"He laid next to me! I meant he laid _next_ to me!"

Too late.

Touya lunged at the other boy and, because he was laughing too hard, Syaoran couldn't dodge or fend him off.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Tomoyo asked after a while.

"No," Sakura answered. She had every intention of helping Syaoran – she really did – but she was a little miffed at him for laughing and decided that he deserved some pain.

Tomoyo rolled her eyes and walked over to the boys before trying to pry them apart. Unfortunately for her and Syaoran, she was no match for Touya's strength.

Sakura watched with morbid fascination before deciding that she didn't feel like being a murder witness. Positioning herself directly next to her brother's ear, she took a deep breath and shrieked at the top of her lungs. "WE DIDN'T HAVE SEX!" Blunt, but effective.

Almost immediately, Touya opted to drop Syaoran in favor of covering his ringing ears. His little sister carelessly pushed him in the general direction of the sofa.

Hands firmly planted on her hips, a clearly ticked Sakura turned to Tomoyo. "Sit."

And so she sat.

"I meant on the sofa," Sakura specified and Tomoyo got up off the floor.

Now clearly the one with all the power, Sakura narrowed her eyes at the three on the sofa and began introductions. "Touya, Tomoyo, this is Syaoran." She paused for dramatic flair. "Any questions?"

"Who the hell is he?!" Touya sputtered.

Sakura furrowed her brow, imitating one of her least favorite teachers. "I believe I already answered that question. Besides, you didn't raise your hand. Anybody else?" Tomoyo's hand shot up. "Yes, Miss Daidouji?"

"Who is he? And why wasn't I informed the minute you met him?"

"Actually, you were," Sakura answered truthfully.

Tomoyo was clearly puzzled. "Come again?"

"Think back to Friday." Sakura watched as Tomoyo's eyes rose to the ceiling while she attempted to remember vital information. "Remember when I told you about some guy I met in the park?"

A light bulb clicked on in the raven-haired girl's head. "Oh! The idiot guy who was following you? This is him?" Tomoyo's eyes wandered over to the stranger on the couch. Touya's eyes did the same, but his were in menacing slits.

"You're a stalker?" he growled.

"It's not what it sounds like," Syaoran said defensively.

"Believe me when I say that you just keep going higher and higher on my hit list with every word that comes out of your mouth."

"Believe me when I say I believe you," Syaoran retorted.

"Little boys on the sofa," Sakura called out in a singsong voice. "Kindly shut the hell up." And since she was close to the fireplace – and therefore, close to the log poker – they both obeyed.

"Okay, I have another question," the once again forgotten Tomoyo said. "Why didn't you tell me about him any time after that?"

"There wasn't much to tell." The lie sounded pathetic even to her own ears.

Tomoyo raised her eyebrows. "Oh really?"

The way she said it made Sakura bristle. "Really."

"Oh? Well forgive me for saying so, but obviously _something_ had to happen or you wouldn't have ended up sleeping in the same bed as him." Tomoyo challenged. The air suddenly felt a lot thicker and hotter than it had moments before.

Sakura was never one to back down from a challenge.

"So we met up again, spent some time together, blah, blah, blah. What's the big deal?" Sakura knew she wasn't acting completely like herself, but she couldn't help it. There was still a part of her that felt resentment at her best friend for not telling her that she liked Eriol. "It's not like _you_ tell _me_ everything."

Whoops.

She hadn't meant for that last part to slip out.

"What was that?" Tomoyo asked when she was finally through being stunned. "What have I ever kept from you?"

Sakura dipped her head and let her hair cover her face. "Forget it. It's nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing," Tomoyo pressed, "for you to bring it up out of the blue like this. If you have something you want to say, say it."

Sakura let out a long-suffering sigh. "Some things are better left unsaid."

Tomoyo rolled her eyes heavenward. "Don't give me that. Just say it."

On the sofa, Syaoran grabbed a large pillow and attempted to hide behind it. "You might want to do the same," he said to the only one who was listening to him.

"Why?" Touya asked, momentarily forgetting the loathing he had for the younger boy.

"Because the shit is about to hit the fan."

Sakura unclenched her teeth. "You didn't tell me that you liked Eriol until after he asked you out."

Tomoyo blinked a couple of times. She obviously wasn't expecting that. "Well, yea, I guess. But I did tell you when we started going out."

"Yea. When you started going out, when you went on dates, what you did on dates, what you wore, what _he_ wore, etcetera, etcetera." There was no stopping it now; she was on a roll. "All a bunch of crap I didn't want to know about."

Tomoyo's face was slightly ashen and pained. "We're-" Her voice faltered and she tried again. "We're best friends. I thought you would want to know."

"Ordinarily I would," Sakura muttered.

"What made this different?"

"The fact that I liked Eriol too!" All of the adrenaline reached its peak with the end of her sentence and rapidly dissipated, leaving Sakura limp and regretting her loss of control. "Tomoyo, I…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Tomoyo's face was frozen in shock. Her mouth was open slightly and her body was stiff. "Oh," she finally said after a long and uncomfortable silence. She closed her mouth, swallowed, and cleared her throat. "Oh," she said again and walked to the front door. It closed with a soft click behind her.

The remaining three stared at the closed door long after Tomoyo was gone. No one said a word for a long time.

A rumbling in the background made Touya aware that the garage door was opening. He stared at his little sister. Her countenance was almost unreadable except for the pools of salt water that were gathering in her eyes. He sighed. He couldn't believe he was going to do this.

"Dad is home." No response. It appeared that he would have to spell it out for them. "That means that you guys are in a shit load of trouble." No response from Sakura but Syaoran twitched. Still, he didn't make a move for the door. Touya was slightly impressed.

Touya took a deep breath to steel himself for what he was about to say. "You two might want to scamper out the back door before he comes inside. I won't say anything about this… for now."

If he had been standing, Syaoran would have fallen over from the shock. "Thanks," he said, rising to his feet.

"Yea, yea, thank me and kiss my ass later." Touya smirked and pointed to the back door. "For now, grab Sakura and get the hell out of here."

No need to tell him twice.

* * *

The duo walked on autopilot in silence, neither of them mentioning the confrontation with Sakura's brother or the fight with Tomoyo.

"Now what?" Syaoran asked, collapsing on a park bench. Actually, to be more specific, it was _the_ park bench. As in, the park bench where they first met.

"I have no idea." Sakura sighed and tried to run her hand through her hair to let out some frustration. She 'tried' because there was still the little problem that she hadn't been able to brush her hair yet. As it was, they had barely had enough time to slip on their shoes before fleeing out the back door of her house. Her hand got stuck halfway though her hair and refused to come out for almost a full minute.

Syaoran knew that to laugh would ensure a slow and painful death. Nevertheless, Sakura noticed the constipated look on his face that was caused by suppressing his chuckles.

"You don't look much better yourself," she muttered, and almost as if to prove her point a little boy ran up to them, dropped a quarter at their feet, and ran back to his group of friends to laugh it up.

Both teens stared at the little silver coin silently.

"We don't really look like hobos, do we?" Sakura sputtered indignantly. "I mean, just because our clothes are wrinkled and our hair isn't brushed…"

"You know, if I was still invisible, I could go over there and teach them a lesson," Syaoran said wistfully.

Sakura started to nod but froze midway. The reality finally hit them at the same moment. Time stood frozen until Syaoran jumped to his feet, lifted his arms in the air, and yelled at the top of his lungs. "I'M NOT INVISIBLE ANYMORE!!!"

Overcome with joy, he dragged Sakura to her feet and enveloped her in a bone crushing bear hug. Just when she thought he was done, he lifted her off her feet and began to swing her around in circles.

"This is fun and all," Sakura struggled to spit out. "But I really would like to breathe."

"Aw, you don't need to breathe," Syaoran whined and swung her one more time for good measure before setting her back on her feet.

They stood facing each other and grinning like Cheshire cats until Syaoran couldn't contain himself anymore and gave her another hug, along with a peck on the corner of her mouth.

"Eww, cooties," Sakura joked and swatted him away.

"I swear right here and now that I will never piss off another psychic as long as I live," Syaoran stated with his hand over his heart.

"What about after you die?"

"That's another story."

Sakura chose that moment to glance over Syaoran's shoulder at the little brats staring at them. "RAHR!" she yelled and took a giant step towards them. They scattered like flies. "That takes care of that," she said dismissively and brushed her hands off.

"Yes, but now we're back to our original question."

"Which is?"

"What do we do now?" Syaoran reminded.

"That's a good question," the female brunette said, scratching the back of her head.

"Why is it that good questions never have good answers?"

Sakura grinned wide. "That's a good question."

Unable to think of a decent retort, Syaoran muttered, "Stop changing the subject." He paused as he remembered something important. "Quick, what is today?"

"Um, Thursday, I think. Why?"

"My family is supposed to come back today! I'll finally be able to get in my house and change into some different clothes!" He couldn't believe that they were actually getting a break for once. "Let's go!"

They made it about two steps before Sakura stopped. "Wait!"

"What now?" Syaoran asked, anxious to be on his way.

Without answering she scurried over to the bench, stooped over, and snatched up the quarter before returning to his side.

"What?" she asked at his incredulous expression.

* * *

"ARGH! Why does the whole world have to be against me when I'm trying to be good?! Stupid 50 pound bag! It's NOT EVEN MINE!"

Sakura and Syaoran could hear the screaming even from outside. There was no car in the driveway but the lights were on and the door was unlocked.

"Do I really want to go in there?" Sakura asked, backing away slowly.

"Of course you do." Syaoran opened the door and latched onto her wrist, dragging her forward. They were greeted by the sight of a petite girl with black pigtails trying to push a bag half her size up the stairs.

"What are you doing, Meiling?" Syaoran asked.

"I'm trying to get your stupid sister's bag to her room." There was a short pause of silence. "Syaoran? Syaoran!" Meiling's head shot up before the bad slipped out of her grip and went sailing down the stairs. Meiling watched blandly as it gained momentum and knocked over a lamp. "Son of a… Syaoran! Look what you make me do!"

"I didn't make you do anything," Syaoran defended himself and tried to hide behind Sakura, effectively bringing Meiling's attention to the girl.

"Well, well, well," Meiling drawled. All traces of annoyance gone, she was the perfect picture of composure. "Who is this?"

"This is Sakura. We met last week. Sakura, meet my cousin Meiling," Syaoran, the perfect gentleman, introduced with a flourish.

"Hi," Sakura said.

"Hello," Meiling smiled. "Let me guess; he saw you and then wouldn't leave you alone."

"As a matter of fact…" Sakura could tell that she was going to like this girl.

"So, how was the trip?" Syaoran interrupted and changed the subject, not liking the direction the conversation was going.

Meiling's eyes lit up. It seemed like he chose a good topic. "It was great! But you want to know the best part? Remember that psychic we visited before I left?"

Syaoran exchanged glances with Sakura. There was no way he would be able to forget, no matter how hard he tried. "Vaguely."

"Remember how she said I would meet someone and he would have 'hair the color of cornflower and eyes the color of the ocean' and that when I met him I would be 'drenched and unhappy'?" Meiling was so excited at this point that Syaoran thought she was going to wet herself. He was going to respond, but she didn't give him enough time. "Well, she was right! I guess she's not such a 'crack pot psychic' like you said."

"Indeed," Sakura answered for him, smirking.

"No need to rub it in my face," Syaoran said under his breath.

"Let me finish!" Meiling reprimanded her cousin for speaking. "Anyway, I was walking by the pool and slipped and fell in the water. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes helped me out while your stupid sisters just laughed and-"

Syaoran risked his life by cutting her off. "Speaking of my sisters; where are they?

Meiling sobered quickly, her eyes darkening. "Those bums bailed on me as soon as your mother gave them the chance. They didn't want to unpack and decided to go grocery shopping instead while I was in the bathroom. I swear when I get my hands on them…" Meiling caught herself just in time and coughed. "I think I may have had a little too much sugar. I can't seem to calm down."

"Or shut up either," Syaoran added.

"Do you have a death wish already?" Meiling threatened, getting up in his face. She happened to glance at his feet as she did so and blanched. "Speaking of which – your sister is going to kill you when she sees what you did to her favorite pair of slippers." Said slippers had started out fluffy and pink and had since turned brown and clumpy. "Why are you wearing them anyways?"

"Excuse me," Sakura interrupted, saving Syaoran from having to answer. "But would one of you happen to have a brush I could borrow?" she asked, fingering a dreadlock.

"Sorry, mine is still somewhere in my bag," Meiling answered.

"That's okay. She can use my comb," Syaoran said quickly and pulled Sakura up the stairs.

"Don't stay up there too long," Meiling called after them. "Your mom and sisters will be home soon and I can pretty much guarantee they are going to put you to work!"

Syaoran shut his bedroom door, effectively blocking out anything else his cousin might have been saying. "She is insane, I swear." He turned around to look at Sakura and saw she was already attacking her hair with a comb. She seemed to be having a particularly hard time with a knot in the back. "Let me," he offered and motioned for her to sit on his bed.

Sakura smiled suggestively. "You're not getting fresh with me, are you?"

"Of course not, you pervert." Syaoran smirked as he worked on one side of her hair. "Don't get any ideas."

Sakura sighed and leaned against him. "Now what?"

"Not that question again." Syaoran sighed and pressed his lips against the base of her neck, not able to help himself. "Why do you feel like we need to be doing something?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems so unfinished; like it ended too easily."

"Easily?" Syaoran's spine straightened. "Are you kidding?"

Sakura laughed and pulled his head back to her neck. She liked it there. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I'm beginning to think that I'm only good for one thing," Syaoran grouched, but left a trail of kisses anyways.

Sakura ignored him. "I mean, it feels like we need to do something else. I feel restless."

Syaoran was pretty sure he knew what was bothering her, but didn't voice it aloud. She was probably upset about what happened with Tomoyo.

"I'll tell you what." Syaoran positioned his hands on her shoulders and rotated her around to face him. "Tomorrow we will go back to the psychic house one last time and talk to Madam Mirai. Will that make you feel better?"

"I guess," Sakura mumbled. "But what will we talk to her about?"

"Oh, I don't know." Syaoran scratched his head in thought. "Maybe we can have your fortune read, just don't piss her off or you may end up wearing the same clothes for a week."

Sakura giggled but Syaoran could tell that her heart wasn't in it. "How about we meet at the mall before we go?" he added, an idea occurring to him.

Sakura looked at him oddly. "Why at the mall?"

Syaoran didn't look her in the eyes. "Well, I certainly can't pick you up at your house for fear of being castrated by your brother, and you probably don't want to come here when my sisters are here, trust me. Besides, we can get some lunch or something before we go."

Feeling suspicious and not knowing why, Sakura decided to ask. "Why don't we just go to the psychic house right now?"

Either because he was a fast thinker or a good liar, Syaoran wasted no time in answering. "Like Meiling said, my mom is probably going to work me like a mule as soon as she gets home and, besides, you probably shouldn't leave your brother alone with your dad for too long. There's no telling when he will change his mind and rat us out."

"You have a good point." Even though Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that she was being duped, she had no evidence and couldn't do anything about it. "I guess I'll go home now. Walk me to the door?"

Syaoran nodded and was about to lead the way when Sakura stopped him by saying, "I want you to know that I know you are up to something." At this point, it was almost impossible for her to keep a straight face. "I can see right through you."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Sakura was never one to ignore her instincts, so placing one foot on the bus to the mall had been extremely difficult, almost painful. The most frustrating part was that she couldn't quite place her finger on the problem.

What had aroused her suspicion the day before? Syaoran's fidgeting and overall nervous countenance, that was what. Granted, she had only known him for about a week, so it wasn't like she could read him like a book, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was up to something.

The bus lurched to a stop and Sakura, who hadn't been expecting it, jerked forward and smacked into the seat in front of her. Grumbling, she snatched her purse off the floor and made her way to the bus' exit. Just as she was taking the last step off the wretched city vehicle, a bug flew in her face and she lost her footing. Instead of scraping her knees, she opted for a bruised bottom and somehow managed to twist her body around in time.

"Are you okay?" The bus driver asked, seeming concerned but Sakura had the sneaking suspicion that he was trying not to smile at her expense.

"I'm fine," Sakura answered a little gruffly and got to her feet, cursing her stupidity for wearing a skirt that day. "Happens all the time."

Thinking vehemently that she better not have flashed the world her panties, she walked up to the mall's entrance and pulled open the door a little harder than necessary. Just as she did this, a couple of little kids ran past the open doorway, shoving her aside and into the doorframe. A woman followed close behind the little brats, saying a quick "Sorry" and then was gone.

If Sakura were a superstitious person she would have considered the events of the morning to be a bad omen.

"Hey, Sakura, over here!" Sakura's head shot up at Syaoran's familiar voice and she followed him with her eyes as he walked up to her. Seeing him again somehow brought on a sense of relief. It must have been because she had spent a week with him constantly around, but whatever the reason, she had missed him. "Whoa. What happened to you? Bad morning?"

"You could say that."

"I know just the thing to fix you up!" Syaoran slung his arm around her shoulders and led her in the direction of the food court.

Sakura couldn't help feeling a bit insulted. "Food? How simple do you think I am?" She tried to duck out of his grasp, but he held tight. Why was he being so touchy feely all of a sudden?

"It's not about the food." Syaoran laughed, a hint of nervousness showing through his façade. "It's about the person we're meeting there."

"Oh, really..." So her feelings that he was up to something weren't unjustified. "Who?"

"One of your favorite people," Syaoran answered evasively.

"Johnny Depp?" Sakura asked just to see his face fall the way she knew it would.

"No." For a second it looked like he was going to say more but thought better of it. Sakura narrowed her eyes and scrutinized his face to see if it revealed any secrets. A single bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face.

"Well," she finally said. "I can see you're not going to tell me anything right now, so let's get this over with."

They walked in silence to the food court with Syaoran getting tenser with each step they took. This was evident to Sakura because he still had his arm around her and was making no motion to remove it. One thing was for sure; whatever they were headed for, she wasn't going to like it.

As soon as they got to the food court, Sakura began to search the crowd for a familiar face, but found none.

"Sorry we're late," Syaoran said and she whipped her head around to see who he was talking to. Without her realizing it, he had led her to a table with two very familiar people.

"It's okay," Tomoyo answered, her voice lacking its usual warmth. Eriol smiled at them slightly, looking unsure of himself for the first time since Sakura had met him. "We haven't been here that long."

Sakura stood in shocked silence before trying to pull away, but Syaoran's strong arm held fast. So that was what the whole arm over the shoulder had been for – restraints. Sakura felt her face start to flush with anger and hoped it wasn't too obvious.

"What," she spat out at last, "is this all about?"

"Beats me." Tomoyo shrugged and jutted her chin out towards Syaoran. "Ask him."

Sakura rounded on Syaoran faster than the naked eye could see. Any passerby could tell that Syaoran really wanted to let go of her, but he held fast. He wouldn't let her go until he finished what he had come to do.

"I can explain," Syaoran insisted. Sakura was giving him that death glare again. "I just thought that after yesterday's fight you two needed to, um, talk things out." He ended the sentence with a yelp since Sakura had subtly dug her nails in his back.

"You did, did you?" She questioned and then looked back at the table where Eriol was looking extremely uncomfortable. "So why did you invite Eriol too? He has nothing to do with this."

"I didn't-" Syaoran started, but Tomoyo cut him off.

"I invited him. I didn't want to come here alone."

"It kind of works out for the best." Syaoran chuckled. "Since this does have a lot to do with him." Eriol shot him a confused look. "I mean, since the fight was about him." When he realized he was just getting a blank stare from the other boy, Syaoran elaborated more. "Because both of you liked him."

It suddenly got very quiet and Syaoran realized that he had made a big mistake. Apparently, Tomoyo had chosen not to completely fill her boyfriend in on the details of current events. Eriol was looking back and forth between the girls with his mouth open and Sakura was giving Syaoran a look that could send a city up in flames.

"Lik_ED_," Sakura clarified for Tomoyo's stupefied boyfriend. "As in _not anymore_. And…" She looked back at Syaoran. "If I remember correctly, the main cause of the fight was technically _YOU_."

"Me?" Syaoran asked, his arm sliding off her shoulders, relatively sure that she wouldn't leave with this confrontation unfinished.

"Yes, you. Tomoyo got mad because I hadn't told her about you." She glanced at the dark haired girl who was just watching them, expressionless.

"Oh yea." Syaoran scratched the back of his head, feeling sheepish.

"Yes," Tomoyo said, speaking up. "And then it went on for you to accuse me of not telling you everything either, because I kept it a secret that I had a thing for Eriol. Well, excuse me! I didn't think you had to know everything!"

"Hypocrite!" Sakura screeched, her hackles raised. "You expect _me_ to tell you everything, but it's okay if _you _keep secrets? Talk about having a double standard. So what if I didn't tell you about Syaoran? You were too busy in your own little world to even notice that there was something happening to me."

"What? Am I supposed to be a mind reader?" Tomoyo countered.

"Maybe. Then you might have noticed that you weren't the only one with a crush on Eriol. Or maybe all you'd have to do is pull your head out of your ass and open your eyes!"

People were definitely starting to stare. It wasn't that they were talking loud exactly, but the angry tones had caught several passerbies' attention.

"What?" Tomoyo demanded, getting to her feet. "Where do you get off talking to me like that? I've always been a good friend-"

"You may have always _tried_ to be a good friend," Sakura muttered, her voice much softer. "But people are human and they make mistakes. Including me, of course."

"I'm sorry that Eriol chose me, but that's-"

Sakura cut her off again. "This isn't about Eriol anymore."

"Then what is this about?"

"I don't know!" Sakura clamped her mouth shut and lowered her gaze so she was glaring at the table.

"Oh, well that helps," Tomoyo grumbled and leaned back in her chair, slouching her shoulders.

"I guess," Sakura started, working things out in her mind as she went along. "That I started being mad because of the Eriol thing, but I don't like him more than a friend now. Not really anyways. A lot has happen this week. I have Syaoran." She gave Syaoran the first kind glance of the day and then looked back down at the table. "And I know that this isn't all your fault. I didn't tell you I liked Eriol either, but I'm still mad and I'm not sure why. Maybe my body isn't ready to be through being mad. Does that make any sense?"

"No, not really," Tomoyo answered.

"Sorry, but that's the best I can do right now." Sakura's eyelevel met Tomoyo's.

"Well," Syaoran said slowly, bringing himself back into the conversation smoothly. He and Eriol had opted to say out of the way up until that point, lest they get caught in the crossfire. "Maybe some of it is misdirected anger."

"Come again?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm talking about Eriol. Shouldn't you be a little mad at him?"

"Excuse me?" Eriol asked, actually joining the conversation to defend himself against the boy he had barely met. "What did I do? You can't blame me for asking Tomoyo out and not Sakura."

"I'm not talking about that," Syaoran said, starting to sound exasperated. "It's the way you talk to Sakura."

"What?"

"You're always going 'What did I tell you about talking to yourself?' and 'What are you doing by yourself?'" Syaoran was waving his hand up and down in a girly fashion as he did his impersonation of Eriol. As a little extra bonus, Syaoran made up and added, "Oh you silly girl, you."

Eriol looked affronted. "Hey, I didn't-"

"Yes, actually, you did," Sakura spoke up. "You do have the tendency to talk to me like that."

"Oh." Eriol stared at Sakura for a moment. "Um, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Sakura smiled slightly.

"So," Tomoyo trailed off. "What do we do about this?"

Syaoran sat up straighter and grabbed Sakura's hand under the table so the other two couldn't see. "Nothing right now. Just give it some time and I think everything will work itself out."

"Oh, thank you, wise one."

Syaoran didn't miss the sarcasm in Sakura's voice. "No, I'm serious. Mainly I just wanted both of you to know that you don't hate each other's guts. It would be a shame for you to end your friendship over a couple of dumb guys." This earned him incredulous looks from both girls. Perhaps he spent too much time around his sisters. "So now that I've done that, I say it's time for you to kiss and make up… or hug," he hastily amended when they started to snarl. "And then we gotta go because we have an appointment."

"Appointment?" Sakura's voice rose a notch. "But I didn't eat yet!"

"We'll get something to go," Syaoran said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't like to walk and eat at the same time," Sakura pouted. She also didn't want to demonstrate that she was horrible at it. Multitasking – she had failed to master it.

"What are you talking about? Do you realize how far we would have to walk? Our destination isn't in the mall. We're going in my car."

"Your… car?" Sakura asked, not quite comprehending. The thought that she wouldn't have to take the bus home was just too good to be true.

"Technically it's not _MINE_, but for once I beat my sisters to the family car, so we have it for the day."

"Oh."

"Okay then." Syaoran stood up and dragged Sakura with him. "Hug each other so we can go."

"Now who's talking down to her?" Eriol muttered, barely audible. Syaoran chose to ignore it.

Sakura looked like she was about to refuse, but at the last second bent over and wrapped her arms around the black haired girl. It took Tomoyo a stunned moment, but she eventually hugged her friend back.

* * *

"I can't believe we are back here," Sakura said, nervously sucking on her soda's straw as she stared up at the neon sign for Love's Future Psychic House through the car window. "I know you mentioned this yesterday but I didn't really think you were serious. I mean, it's just _not_, ugh, _she's_ not someone I ever really wanted to see again."

"No one understands that more than me," Syaoran said, grabbing the empty cup out of her hands and throwing it in the backseat.

"Hey!" Sakura cried indignantly but was ignored.

"This is the last thing I want to be doing right now," Syaoran continued. "And there's no way I would be here if I didn't have some nagging questions on my mind that need closure. So get out of the car."

"Make me."

That was the wrong thing to say. Without another word, Syaoran got out of the car and walked over to the passenger's side. Before Sakura realized what he was doing he had swung open the door and was in the process of bodily lifting her out of the car and carrying her into the psychic house.

"Syaoran!" she shrieked. "Put me down right now!"

"I will when we get inside." And he did just that. When he actually set her down, she punched him as hard as she could on the arm and waltzed up to the clerk. It was then that Syaoran realized something was off.

"Hey, where's the other girl?"

The teenage girl slowly looked up from her magazine, chewed on her gum a couple seconds and said, "Huh?"

"Where's the _other_ girl?"

Although the current clerk was a cookie cutter copy of the previous girl's mannerisms, she had a different face.

"More than one person works here," she finally said after piecing together what Syaoran was asking.

"Could have fooled me," Syaoran said rudely and Sakura squashed his foot with her own.

Before the girl could ask if they had an appointment, the door to Madam Mirai's room opened and the devil herself stood there.

"Syaoran, Sakura come in. I've been expecting you," she said mysteriously, bracelets jangling.

"Of course you have." Syaoran couldn't help himself. "All you'd have to do is look at the list of appointments and see 'Syaoran Li'."

"No fun as usual, I see," she quipped, ushering them inside her room and having them sit on two of the chairs by her table. Syaoran noticed that this time there was a crystal ball on it. Typical.

Madam Mirai glided over to her own cushiony chair facing them and crossed her arms on the table. "So, what is it you want to know about your future? Love fortune, perhaps?"

"Uh, no, not today," Sakura replied tactfully, cutting off Syaoran's no doubt rude remark. "I think that Syaoran just has a few questions for you."

"Oh?" There was an odd whirring sound and the room filled with fog. Madam Mirai sat motionless until some white wisps went up her nose and she coughed. "Stupid machine," she muttered. "It's broken again."

"Stop trying to change the subject!" Syaoran interjected.

"I would never dream of it." The older woman scratched her forehead and coughed again. "Ask away."

"What exactly did you do to me?"

Madam Mirai blinked very slowly, the mascara on her lashes sticking slightly. "I made you invisible to everyone except that young lady over there." She tilted her head towards Sakura.

"I know that!" Syaoran growled. "But what I don't know is why you picked Sakura." He stopped, as if unsure of what he was about to say. "Is it because she's my soul mate or something?"

Madam Mirai just gazed at him for a minute before bursting into laughter. Her body was shaking very hard and tears of mirth were leaking out of her eyes.

"What's so funny?" Syaoran scowled. He didn't like being laughed at.

Madam Mirai pulled herself together long enough to say, "I just think it's amusing that someone who was so against love, believes in _soul mates_."

"I don't!" Syaoran tried to defend himself. "I just couldn't think of anything else." And that set the psychic into another fit of giggles.

"So that means there's no such thing as soul mates?" Sakura asked, highly amused.

"Uh…" Madam Mirai sat up a little straighter. "Now don't you dare repeat this since I'm supposed to be a 'love psychic', but there is no such thing as soul mates – at least not in the way that most people think of soul mates. There is not just one person out there meant for you. There may be certain people that you're more compatible with, but that doesn't mean you're going to end up together for the rest of your lives because you are 'soul mates'. All relationships take work." She finished with a flourish of her wrists.

"Then why was I the only one able to see Syaoran? Besides you, of course." Sakura looked at Syaoran. "Is it because we are compatible?"

"Well, yes, there's that but it's more of…" Madam Mirai tapped her temple. "How to word this… I guess you could say that you were chosen because you would give him the hardest time."

"Are you saying I'm difficult?" Sakura asked, getting prickly.

"Yes, yes you are."

Syaoran snorted at that one and then got kicked in the shin. "Ow, that hurt."

Madam Mirai examined her nails and asked, "And other questions?"

"What broke the spell?" Syaoran asked.

"Hey, yea!" Sakura added. "Did it just wear off in a week or did he have to… kiss me?" Sakura flushed scarlet.

Madam Mirai raised her eyebrows and then chuckled a little again. "I think you two read too many fairytales. What do you think I am? Your fairy godmother?"

"Hell no," Syaoran said, but was ignored once again.

The psychic continued as if Syaoran hadn't said anything. "No, Syaoran became visible again because he finally admitted to himself that he _could_ fall in love." She drummed her long fingernails on the crystal ball.

"Like that wasn't just as corny." Syaoran leaned back in his chair, but both girls in the room could tell that he said it to try and cover his embarrassment.

"Oh!" Sakura sat up straight suddenly. "I just thought of something else; did the clothes Syaoran wore stay visible?"

"Goodness no!" Madam Mirai looked at them like they were stupid. "Can't you think of all the trouble that would cause? Floating clothes? No, whatever Syaoran wore would turn invisible as well."

The room got deadly quiet.

Syaoran's neck creaked as he turned his head. "So I wore my dirty clothes most of the week for nothing?" As he finished, his voice kept getting higher and higher.

"I guess you did." Sakura was laughing hysterically behind her hand.

"That's great. Just freakin' fantastic." Syaoran dragged his hands down his face, pulling on the skin.

Madam Mirai glanced at a watch mixed in with all her bracelets. "Your time is almost up. Any last questions?"

"Hm." Sakura wracked her brain. "I know there was something else that was bothering me, but I just can't quite remember… Oh! It was something Meiling said that bothered me."

"Meiling?" Syaoran asked.

"Syaoran's cousin?" Madam Mirai almost echoed.

"Yeah. She said something about you telling her she would meet a guy with 'hair the color of cornflower and eyes the color of the ocean'."

"Yes?" Madam Mirai agreed. "And did she?"

"Yeah, she said she met some blond guy with blue eyes when she fell into a pool, but…"

"But?"

"But aren't cornflowers _blue_?"

Madam Mirai's mouth snapped shut and her face turned slightly pink. "Oops."

Now it was Syaoran's turn to laugh. Standing up, he grabbed Sakura's hand and led her out into the waiting room. The clerk didn't even look up form her magazine this time.

"Oh, Syaoran?" Madam Mirai's whimsical voice called from her room.

"Yes?" Syaoran asked with mock sweetness.

"Just to let you know, we're about to close this place and take up residence in the mall to be more easily accessible. Why don't you drop by some time?"

"Sure," he answered to her face, but when they were safely outside the building he turned to Sakura and said, "No way in hell."

They both climbed into his car and Syaoran drove off without even looking back at the old psychic house.

"Wow." Sakura pushed her seat back so that she was slightly reclined. "I can't believe it's all over."

"But it's not." Syaoran turned right and spared a glance at her. "You've got to somehow convince your brother not to spout his mouth off to your father and then there's still the whole Tomoyo thing."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Sakura wished she had a pillow so she could smash her face into it. "Hey," she said out of the blue. "I was meaning to ask; how did you get Tomoyo's number?"

"I, um…" He sure had been tripping over his words a lot that day. "I called every Daidouji in the phone book until I got it right. It took a while too. Her mom's name starts with an 'S'."

Sakura sat up straight and looked at him. "You did all that?"

"It wasn't much."

"You're so sweet." Sakura cooed and poked him in the side.

"Hey! Not while I'm driving. You want to have a wreck?"

"I suppose not." Sakura moved back to her side of the car. "What are we doing next? I don't have to be home for a while."

"We could-"

"Make out?" Sakura filled in for him. Syaoran flushed. "You're so _transparent_."

"Haha." Syaoran said at her bad joke. "But no, that's not what I was going to say."

"Then what were you going to say?" Sakura teased.

"That we could go to the park where we met," Syaoran said, grasping at straws.

"Only if the water is _crystal clear_. You know how I have a thing for _translucent _things."

Syaoran shook his head, wondering if her jokes could get any worse. "Would you stop with the bad puns already?"

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him. "No. I'm just trying to have the last word."

"You always get the last word," Syaoran reminded her, coming to a stop at a red light.

"But-" He pressed a finger to her lips.

"It's my turn this time." And with that, he leaned towards her and pressed his lips against hers. Neither of them noticed that the light turned green until someone honked. Syaoran pulled away looking past Sakura's shoulder and grinned, pleased that he would finally be able to have the last word.

"Your brother is in the car beside us."

**The End.**

**

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Kitty Neko: Welp, that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Drop me a line and let me know haha  
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